The Kiwanis Club of Statesboro has dedicated next week’s Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair, the 64th annual, in honor of Mike Bowen, a long-serving Statesboro Kiwanis member who volunteers in the event every year and whose parents created the tradition of the fairgrounds Country Store.
2026 Fair Chair Landon Lanier and recently installed 2026-2027 Statesboro Kiwanis President Crystal Simpkins surprised Bowen with the honor during the club’s Thursday, Oct. 15 weekly meeting. Kiwanians met this week in the rustic, open-air Pancake House pavilion on the fairgrounds, instead of the usual enclosed space of the nearby community building.
Lanier read aloud the dedicatory certificate, mounted in a large frame beneath a photo of a smiling Mike Bowen, sporting a yellow Kiwanis shirt while standing front of the stage where musical entertainers were performing during a previous year’s fair.
The certificate stated:
“Whereas, Mike Bowen has devoted decades of service, leadership, hard work and good humor to the Kiwanis Club of Statesboro and the Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair; and
“Whereas, through his many years of service on the Fair Committee, Mike has taken on nearly every challenge the Fair could offer, from wrangling vendors in the Exhibit Hall to carefully selecting and coordinating musicians and entertainers who filled the fairgrounds with music through the years; Mike has also generously lent his unmistakable voice to the Fair, proving that while his days in radio may be behind him, a good radio personality never truly goes off the air; and
“Whereas, Mike can now most often be found alongside his father, Carlton, in the Country Store, where they continue a Bowen family tradition of providing one of the finest delicacies, an ice-cold Coca-Cola and a pack of peanuts; and
“Now, therefore, in recognition of his many years of faithful service and enduring dedication to the traditions of the Fair, we proudly dedicate the 64th annual Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair to Mike Bowen.”
Simpkins and Lanier had signed it. The crowd stood and applauded as Bowen came forward to receive the plaque.
A family tradition
“When I was asked by my dad 35 years ago to join the club, I was working at the radio station (WWNS and WMCD) every day through the noon hour and I couldn’t join the club, but I said, ‘When I can come and serve,’ I was going to,” Bowen recalled, “and when I left the radio station to start my own business, one of the first things I did was join Kiwanis, and it’s been an honor to walk in my dad’s footsteps.”
His father, Carlton, and mother, the late Vivian Phillips Bowen, first opened the Country Store at the Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair about 30 years ago. The store was Carlton Bowen’s father’s store from the Adabelle community, donated and moved to the fairgrounds. Other members of the family, including Mike Bowen’s wife and sister, now help out in the store during fair week.
Carlton Bowen, now 95 and still a Statesboro Kiwanis member, was there Thursday at the Pancake House and saw his son receive the dedication.
Mike Bowen said he has loved working in the Country Store and the many other tasks, even helping direct traffic in the parking lot when he first joined.
“I encourage everybody to work hard and love this club, and at the end of the week when your feet are really sore, you’ll know you’ve done your job,” he told fellow Kiwanians. “Thank you so much.”
Thursday’s lunch consisted of the same pancakes and sausage the fair-going public can purchase at the Pancake House all next week, plus some cheese grits that aren’t on the regular menu.
Now Lanier and the rest of the 15-member Fair Committee, Bowen and many other members of the club will be doing volunteer work through the weekend to get everything ready. Many of the Amusements of America rides were already in place, forming a background to the dedicatory meeting.