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2016 LOGAN COUNTY FAIR
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS July 29 - August 6, 2016
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By Nila Smith
F
or many people the idea
of spending a week at the
Logan County Fair equates to
food, fun, great shows, and a
time to hang out with friends.
Those are important aspects
of what is considered by many
as the most important week of
the summer in Logan County.
4-H and Fair,
lessons to live by
Throughout the week, walking
the Midway, one will see families
munching on fair food, or standing in
line for the grandstand show. There
will be teenagers, hanging together
as a group, snapping selfies they will
tag “me and my buds at the fair.”
There will be old farmers gathered
around the antique tractors talking
about the “good ol’ days.”
In the exhibit barns, there will be
kids proudly pointing out their blue
ribbons to grandma and grandpa,
an award they won as a result of
participating in a 4-H judging.
In the livestock barns, parents stand
on the sidelines, anxiously waiting
and trying to hear what the judges
say to their children about the animal
they are showing. For those who are
unfamiliar with the processes, some
of the sights can appear strange or
downright comical. Watching a kid
try to put a bunny on its back, or
seeing a judge looking at the hinny
of a chicken, just seems strange.
Watching a 100-pound youngster
manhandling a 1,000-pound steer
with nothing but a rope and a stick, pulling, poking and prodding
until the animal somewhat willingly walks in a circle before a
judge, may seem pointless. Equally comical can be the chaos of
kids chasing hogs around an arena, trying to get them to take their
noses out of a fence corner, or walk at a reasonable pace past a
judge, may seem like an exercise in futility.
Though these things may seem pointless, for the 4-H youngster, his
or her parents and the judges, this brings to an end a long period of
work and study by the kids. Preparing for the fair is not something
the kids do a week before hand. For many, it involves months and
months of preparation. When they stand before the judge, with
their art, their vegetables, their dogs or cats, or their cattle; they are
there to find out how well they have done in the months prior, and
what they can do better in the future.
For example, last year during the vegetable judging, the judge
asked a youngster when he had dug his potatoes for his entry.
FILE PHOTO