A community reunion. The unofficial start of summer. The best time of the year. For the town of Versailles, Ohio, the annual Poultry Days festival is all about coming together and celebrating the community and each other the second weekend in June.
At Classic Carriers, we’re part of the fabric of the Versailles community. Founder Jim Subler and many Classic employees were born and raised here. Giving back and showing up for our town is a core part of our ethos and something we’ve been doing for years.
A Brief History of Poultry Days
Poultry Days began in 1952 as a single-day event where the community gathered for a barbecued chicken dinner. Production of poultry and eggs has been a longstanding part of the Versailles economy. Though small in size, the community was known as the Poultry Capital of the Midwest at the turn of the 20th century. In the years after the initial Poultry Day, the festival expanded to a three-day annual event on the second weekend in June.
Today, the festival still includes a delicious chicken dinner, but attendees can enjoy live music, rides, cornhole and ultimate frisbee tournaments, Miss Chick and Little Miss Poultry Days contests and more.
Bringing Home the Chicken
When you’re part of a small town, it’s on everyone to come together and do their part, especially for the community’s biggest event of the year.
All 57,750 pounds of this year’s chicken was delivered to Classic’s Greenville warehouse before the festival. Once the committee was ready to start setting up at the fairgrounds, we brought in our 53-foot trailers to help store supplies for serving the dinners and our reefer trailers to keep the chicken fresh.
On Saturday, June 15, Classic team members volunteered to work the chicken line as we’ve done for years, serving up a tasty spread of chicken, chips, applesauce and rolls to festival attendees.
For Classic employees like warehouse manager Ben Eilerman, who grew up in Versailles, Poultry Days has always been something to look forward to. It’s a time when extended family and friends make their way back home.
Eilerman shared that helping with Poultry Days is something Classic will continue to do to support the town. “It’s real good fun, it's good value, and it’s nice to give back to the community,” he said. “And eat some chicken!”