The world’s largest moving Ferris wheel, legendary music acts and food so unhealthy you can only indulge once a year.

It all starts on Thursday.

The Cumming Country Fair and Festival will be held from Thursday, Oct. 6 to Sunday, Oct. 16 at the Cumming Fairgrounds at 235 Castleberry Road. Dave Horton, fairgrounds administrator, said each day will be a little different.

“Each day’s got something special,” Horton said. “We’ve got music entertainers – Lone Star, Charlie Daniels and Atlanta Rhythm Section. We have Marvel heroes doing two shows on Children’s Healthcare [day], and we have bull riding on the last two nights.”

Last year, the fair set a record 167,827 visitors; a record Horton wants to see broken.

“If we have a good weather run, then I think we’ll be able to break that 170,000 mark,” he said.

Horton said the fair has something for all ages, which includes about 40 midway rides provided by James H. Drew Exposition.

“They have a great kiddie land; a lot of kiddie rides and a lot of rides parents can ride the ride with their child,” he said. “Then they have some of the bigger rides; they have rides for the bigger kids and adults that like that adrenaline rush.”

No fair would be complete without a Ferris wheel, and luckily the fair will bring a big one that goes nearly 100 feet in the air.

“The Ferris wheel is like the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair Ferris wheel,” Horton said. “It’s just a beautiful wheel, and it’s the tallest portable wheel in the world.”

Also notable are the 120 cable lift buckets that will take riders across the fairgrounds.

Of course, the midway will also feature traditional fair food, along with local vendors selling food and other items.

“We’ve got plenty of corndogs, funnel cakes, deep-fried Oreos, all those things you eat at the fair and let your diet go for a week,” Horton said.

While the food and rides are staples, the fair will also have some local exclusives.

Two of the most notable are the Heritage and Cherokee Indian villages.

Heritage Village features a sawmill, cotton gin, blacksmith and school building. Last year, 32 bales of cotton, each weighing about 400 pounds, were produced by the cotton gin, and Horton said many of the buildings use wood cut at the saw mill.

“A lot of people in their 50s and older … remember that their grandparents or their great-grandparents that had machinery or some of the things we have highlighted in Heritage Village,” Horton said.

Horton said that for some locals there is a family connection to the old tools.

“A good number of the venues within Heritage Village, the equipment was donated by local families, so it’s special or cool for them, and it’s special for us because it came out of our own community,” he said. “They hadn’t seen it run, so they donate it to us and we grease it up and make it run again, so it’s pretty neat for them to see.”

Though named for the Cherokee Indians who once lived in the area, Horton said many cultures will be represented at Indian Village.

“They’ve got encampments set up that show a lot of the Native American Culture, and there will be some vendors set up to sell Native American crafts,” Horton said.

“It covers the Midwest, it covers Canada and also Cherokee; there are several here with Cherokee lineage. So, it’s a multi-international flavor of Native American culture.”