Jenkins Automotive, LLC, and the Barbour County Fair, are the Barbour County Chamber of Commerce Members of the Month in October.
Debbie Schoonover, left, is the President of the Barbour County Fair Association. John Jenkins is the owner and President of Jenkins Automotive, the parent company which operates a Ford dealership in Buckhannon and Jenkins Subaru Hyundai, Inc., in Bridgeport.
Jenkins Automotive provides sales, service, parts, and collision repairs to local and state customers throughout West Virginia and surrounding states. They offer a complete line of Ford, Subaru, and Hyundai vehicles and certified units with all brands of makes and models of used vehicles. “Our staff,” says Jenkins, “have been loyal team members for years and go above and beyond in knowledge of their respective departments. We are proud,” he says, “of our achievements in receiving Ford’s prestigious President’s Award for the 11th time in 1990.” The award honors Ford dealers for outstanding customer satisfaction and experience.
John Jenkins is a native of Clarksburg and graduate of Liberty High School. He is Past President of the West Virginia Auto Dealers Association and was a Director and Chairman of the Board of Freedom Bank. He received the “Extra Mile Award” from West Virginia Wesleyan University for going the extra mile to help Buckhannon and West Virginia Wesleyan. Jenkins Ford is located at 8 Billingsley Drive in Buckhannon, telephone 472-1700 while Jenkins Subaru Hyundai may be found at 750 Lodgeville Road in Bridgeport, telephone 848-6000. Their websites are www.jenkinsford.com and www.jenkinssubaruwv.com
Schoonover says, “Established in 1976, we have one of the oldest and biggest fairs in the state of West Virginia. Paying one price makes it popular with the 20,000 fairgoers each year. The volunteers of the Barbour County Fair Association are very dedicated and put in hundreds of hours each year to organize the fair whose purpose is to provide wholesome family recreation, promote the farming industry, and West Virginia’s life, culture, arts, crafts, and music. We work with the Barbour County Commission to maintain the facilities for these purposes. The fair,” she says, “has displays, sells livestock, crops, and agricultural products manufactured and produced in West Virginia.”
The Fair Association is a member of the state association and the International Association of Fairs & Expositions. Fair Board members have received many awards including Hall of Fame awards to John Phillips in 1990, John Loyd in 1996, H. A. Payne in 2001, Ron Schoonover in 2005, and Dorothy Swanson in 2011. Debbie and Ron Schoonover were also honored by the state association with the Friends of Fairs and Festivals Award in 2018. Other awards have recognized fair brochures, tabloids, website, and posters.
Debbie Schoonover lives with her husband in the Tacy Community of Barbour County. She is President of the Barbour County Fair Association and is the Chief Operations Officer for the Barbour County Health Association. The fair office, located between Philippi and Belington, may be contacted at (304) 823-1328, on Facebook, or via their website: barbourcountyfair.org