By Austin Rust-
According to Liz Lafferty, Fair Board President, the opening day of the 128th Annual Adams County Fair is one for the record books. Approximately 2,700 season passes were sold the first day, July 7, and 1,600 tickets for entries and exhibits have been submitted to the board.
Events of all kinds filled the schedule of the first day. It began with the opening of the fairground gates at 7 a.m., followed by a church service at 9 a.m, then a Toddler Contest and Little Mister and Miss Contest where Ross Davis was named Little Mister of the 2019 Adams County Fair, and Charlotte Grimes was named Little Miss. The parade, which began at 3 p.m., wound its way through the heart of West Union and ended its journey with a lap in the center ring.
“We do believe it’s the biggest parade we’ve had – probably in the last 10 years,” Lafferty said.
The opening ceremonies for the fair began at 5 p.m. with a few words from Adams County Commissioner Ty Pell, who spoke on behalf of his fellow Adams County Commissioners Diane Ward and Barbara Moore. He welcomed everyone to the fair, and declared it open for business.
Outstanding Fair Supporter Mark Wickerham from West Union Electric & Plumbing was then recognized by Liz Lafferty, who said: “The Ohio Department of Agriculture recognizes and commends Mark Wickerham for exceptional service provided to the Adams County Fair.”
Representative Brian Baldridge of Ohio House District 90 then spoke.
“What a great day to start things off,” said Baldridge. “Kudos to the Senior Fair Board and the Junior Fair Board for all of their hard work. I grew up in these barns over here as a young 4-Her in FFA, and I know how much we look forward to it. I want to wish everybody a wonderful fair, and good luck with all of your 4-H and FFA projects as well.”
Next to speak was Kelly Smith, representing Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague.
“On behalf of State Treasurer Robert Sprigg, I’d like to give a proclamation for all of your hard work, and say congratulations,” said Smith. “I hope you all have a wonderful week.”
Laura Baldridge, representing Secretary of State Frank LaRose, said: “Hello Adams County! It’s good to be here. I grew up here, and showed horses right in this ring. It does my heart good to see all of the improvements that have been made to the fairgrounds, and continue to be made. Secretary of State LaRose believes in the sole commitment of families, and there’s no better way to show it than right here at the county fair. We want to congratulate you, wish you well, and hope that you have an awesome fair this year.”
After these words of welcome, the final contestants for the 2019 Adams County Fair King and Queen contest were introduced. The members of the royal court this year were: Whitney Hill, Whitney Bauman, Laney Hesler, Hope Brown, Mackenzie Toole, and Aden Newman. The judges of this year’s contest were Jordan Hileman, Ryan Meeker, and Kathleen Kuhn.
Aden Newman was crowned King of the 2019 Adams County Fair, while Mackenzie Toole was crowned Queen of the 2019 Adams County Fair.
The four contestants named runners-up to the Queen were announced in the following order: Whitney Hill, Fourth Runner-Up, Whitney Bauman, Third Runner-Up, Laney Hesler, Second Runner-Up, and Hope Brown, First Runner-Up. They will serve as the Queen’s Court this year.
“They were just beautiful,” said Liz Lafferty. “Any one of them would have represented us well. It was a fine court of ladies, and they were supported by a ton of visiting royalty, too.”
Carlie Cluxton, Queen of the 2018 Adams County Fair, held a well-attended ice cream social event for visiting royalty from other Ohio county fairs at the First State Bank shelter house.
“I ran because it was an interesting opportunity,” said Aden Newman, King of the 2019 Adams County Fair. “In previous years they haven’t had a Fair King contest, and the Junior Fair Board wanted to have a Fair King contest, so I decided to run. I think it’s going to be fun.”
Aden plans to compete in the State Fair royalty contest, and hopes to visit as many other county fairs as he can. This is his ninth year showing beef cattle and market hogs at the Adams County Fair. He has been a member of the Junior Fair Board for three years, as well as a member of the North Adams FFA chapter for three years, and it is his ninth year in the Unity Farmers 4-H club. Aden is from Seaman, and attends North Adams High School and Southern State Community College. He hopes to attend Ohio State University for a degree in agriculture.
One of the popular events of Opening Night is always the Demolition Derby, and that was no exception this year.
“The derby was large on Sunday night,” said Lafferty, “ The open cattle show was really large too. It was a record number of cattle brought in. It’s an open show, which means people bring them in from everywhere. The gospel concert was very nice, and well-attended.”
Lafferty noted that shuttle services for the night ran later than expected due to high attendance.
High attendance was expected for the second day of the fair, July 8, as well. After passing final safety inspections, the rides began to operate later that day, and Shade Tree Park, an area devoted to natural resources, opened with its first events of the week.
“It’s a great place to hang out,” said Bill Wickerham, Wildlife Specialist of the Adams County Water & Soil Conservation District, who manages Shade Tree Park.
“There are all kinds of activities for kids,” Wickerham continued. “We’ve got the Green Machine, which is a recycling education center, and we also have the Adams County Public Libraries here as well – they’ll be doing activities throughout the week.”
Other activities in Shade Tree Park include an archery trailer, various games for children in the shade of the shelter house, and a corn pit, similar to a ball pit. To participate in archery, children must first answer questions from the Green Machine or the library booth for tokens.
“All of the questions have answers that the children can find in our own Green Machine, here, or maybe around the area,” explained Whitney Lawhorn, Education Specialist at Adams Brown Recycling, who travels with the Green Machine for educational events.
“There are some hunting questions, wildlife questions, and recycling questions,” Lawhorn added. “Some of the questions are about creating energy for light bulbs, or what they can recycle in Adams and Brown counties. We also have an environmental timeline (or them.”
Adult Outreach Specialist Serpell Adkins of the Adams County Public Libraries manages the libraries’ lending and informational booth in Shade Tree Park.
“All week long we’ll have free books to give away,” said Adkins, “And) from 12 – 4 p.m. each day, a programmer from the library will come and do kids’ activities.”
Several events are planned for the coming days in Shade Tree Park.
“On Wednesday,we’ll have COSI (Center of Science and Industry),” said Wickerham. They’ll be setting up 10 science spots in the shelter house from noon- 4 p.m. At four o’clock, we’ll have reptiles, a naturalist from Shawnee will be here to do that presentation.”
“Friday is Farm Bureau Day,” Wickerham continued, “We will have all sorts of activities. There’ll be an antique tractor display, rodeo games with tractors, and at about three o’clock, we’ll be doing a kiddie tractor pull here at the shelter house.” Shade Tree Park is) all kinds of fun for kids of all ages.”
The 128th Annual Adams County Fair is set to continue until the end of this week, with a full schedule of events ahead all the way through Saturday, July 13.
