Family Fun
/Balancing tradition and innovation, Lisa Garner carries her grandmother’s legacy of running the fair
By Ellen Orr
When Lisa Garner (née Barr) was 20 years old, she quit her job and then drove straight to the fairgrounds because “the first place you go when something’s wrong is to your grandma, of course,” she recalled. Lisa’s maternal grandmother, Betty Nix, had worked at the Four States Fairground for Lisa’s entire life, organizing the annual fair. Her grandfather, the late Bobby Nix, also worked there, as an electrician. The fairgrounds had always been a second home for Lisa.
After Betty consoled her, Lisa went home and checked her answering machine. There was a message from Betty: “This is Grandma. You need to call me. I need you.”
“So I called her and asked what was wrong,” Lisa recalled. “She said, ‘Our office manager just quit, and we have the Tough Man Contest. I need you to come answer the phone.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know how to answer the phone.’ She was like, ‘You don’t understand. I need you. This is busy, and it’s important, and I know you don’t have a job, so I need you to come out here.’”
She did—and she never left. This year, she celebrated 25 years.
Pictured here: Trey and Emily Hawkins with children Lane and Amiyah; Paul and Lisa with son Dawson (behind); Betty Nix and Danette Perkins; Robert and Wendy Perkins with daughter Gracie, son Dylan, and grandschildren Skyllar (held) and Caleb (in front).
“It was not in my plan,” Lisa said. “I loved [the fair], but I never wanted an ‘office job.’ I like to move.”
It didn’t take her long to realize that any job at the fairgrounds would keep her on her toes. From 1998 to 2000, she worked as the office manager. In 2000, Betty “retired for the first time,” Lisa said, and she was promoted into her grandmother’s role, which was “everything fair—organizing all of the concession, food vendors, exhibitors, and livestock.”
In 2015, Lisa was named chief operating officer. In this role, her responsibilities grew to encompass not only the annual fair and rodeo but also the numerous events held on the grounds throughout the year. “If you came out once a week for the next three months, there would be something different in that building every time you came out,” she said. “So, it definitely isn’t the boring ‘office job’ I’d thought it was.”
In 2020, Betty—whose first retirement didn’t stick—celebrated 50 years with the fair before truly retiring. In 2021, Lisa became the executive director.
It cannot be overstated how integral the fair was to Lisa’s early years. “I thought every kid got to go to the fair every day,” she said. Her mother worked for the fair for a number of years as well, and Lisa recalled being picked up from school by her grandfather and then “turned loose” at the fair with her siblings and the children of the other employees. Especially during fair season, it was all-hands-on-deck for Lisa’s family—and this is still true today.
“We get to work in the business of making memories.”
“Both of my brothers have helped do some things out here,” she said. “My baby brother, Trey, has dressed up as Angus, which is our cow mascot. My niece and nephew and my mom have all worn the costume, too. My other brother, Robert, has come out and run tractors, delivered stuff and picked up stuff for me.” Last year, during a particularly stressful week, “I was just calling everybody,” she said. I was like, ‘I need you.’ It incorporates your whole family. It just becomes part of the DNA of your family.”
Even Lisa’s husband, Paul, has fairground ties. “This is actually where we initially met and became friends. He worked here for five years. He just thought he was going to get away from this,” she laughed. The two married at the courthouse in May 2020, and Lisa became a “bonus mom” to four children and two grandchildren.
“It’s changed my focus,” she said. “Before, I was full-on work 24/7, but now [my role as] mom comes first, then wife, then work.”
Lisa has always worked with appreciation for institutional history; in fact, as office manager, she was tasked with reading and taking notes on the minutes of over 50 years’ worth of Four States Fairground board meetings. “It was the coolest thing I’d ever gotten to do,” she said of the project. Studying the work her grandmother and others had done imbued her with an encyclopedic knowledge of the business, though to this day she still consults with Betty when making decisions.
Lisa with her mother, Danette Perkins, and grandmother Betty Nix during Betty’s 50th anniversary celebration at the Four States Fair.
Now, however, Lisa has an even deeper appreciation for the traditions and memories instilled by those who came before her, and so she strives to do the same for the younger generations in her family. “I want my kids and my nieces and nephews to be able to tell stories about when they were growing up out here,” she said. “Their whole lives, I’ve worked here, so to them, [growing up at the fair is] as normal as it was for me. Preserving the traditions is where my heart is.”
At the same time, Lisa and her team are always making improvements. Like the rest of the world, operation of the fairground has changed immeasurably over the last 25 years, and it is certain to change just as much over the next 25. Improvements are always being made to the grounds themselves; this year’s fairgoers will benefit from a new Oasis (the plaza at the center of the grounds), rebuilt concessions, and a new road surface. Lisa said as well that some “huge shows” are being added to the calendar, like the Arkansas State Horse Show, which has been held in Little Rock for 45 years. Drawing out-of-town visitors to the area is one of Lisa’s passions. “We just want to keep growing and keep bringing people to this amazing town so they can see all the wonderful things that Texarkana has to offer,” she said. The fair itself continues to grow as well, with new vendors every year adding the Four States Fair and Rodeo to their schedules.
For the past 25 years, Lisa has worked at the fairgrounds and become friends with many people. Here, she is taking a short break with rodeo clown JJ Harrison.
Though she appreciates every aspect of the business, Lisa’s face lights up the brightest when talking about the value of the fair. “We get to work in the business of making memories,” she said. “Not everybody gets to go on family vacations. Not everybody gets to go to Six Flags. But the majority of people get to come here. So that’s what I have to remind my folks sometimes. I’m like, ‘I know we’re stressed. I know we’re tired. But this is important.’ People leave their worries at the gate, and it’s kind of like, whether you’re nine years old or 90, you get to be a kid.”
The 2023 Four States Fair and Rodeo will run through April 9.