BROWNSTOWN — The Jackson County Fairgrounds east of the county seat was a beehive of activity Saturday morning as hundreds of exhibitors, food stand and booth operators, volunteers and others put the finishing touches on one of the state’s best — if not the best — county fairs.
The only things missing at the end of the day were the rides, food booths and carnival games from Poor Jack Amusements, which arrived overnight — just in time for opening Sunday of the Jackson County Fair’s seven-day run.
Fair board member Mark Wischmeier said on Saturday morning that everything seemed to be going well.
“It looks like everything is getting set up,” said Wischmeier, who is the board’s secretary and treasurer. “We did move a few of our outside displays. It’s going to end up being pretty good, and we’re going to be pretty full.
“Sauers has their food stand up and ready to go,” he said of the latest change to one of the mainstay church food operations at the fairgrounds.
The poultry barn, which occupied part of the dairy barn a year ago, has some new cages, which is going to allow for more turkeys and geese, Wischmeier said while fielding questions from exhibitors at the fair office.
He said the fair goes by quickly and requires a whole lot of work from everyone, including the 4-H’ers who raise animals.
Some of those 4-H’ers included 18-year-old Kiley Sons of Dudleytown, who brought her pets for the 4-H cat show held Saturday morning in Show Arena 1.
Sons, one of 29 10-year 4-H’ers, said her cat, Sammy, was a little nervous about competing in the master showmanship portion of the show.
“He honestly doesn’t know where he’s at, so he was just like, ‘OK, I’m going to trust you,’” she said.
Showmanship for a cat is a little different from most animals, Sons said.
“They’re making sure their ears are clean and their nails are trimmed and their teeth are taken care of,” she said.
Sons said she’s happy to see fair week arrive.
Her favorite things to do during the fair?
“Showing sheep and walking around the fair and seeing all the buildings and everything,” she said.
Cora Baughman, 9, of Brownstown, who received reserve champion in junior showmanship with her male cat, Turkey, said you can’t really tell a cat what to do, although Judge Eugenia Badger told her Turkey was pretty cooperative for a cat.
Baughman said she was looking forward to being at the fair, and if she had to pick her favorite things, it would probably be eating and riding the rides.
Wyatt Robertson, 8, of Brownstown showed his cat, Chase, and said he planned to be at the fair most days this week.
“The tractor pull,” Robertson said when asked about his favorite fair activity.
Carson Crockett, 10, of Clearspring, who also competed in the cat show, said his cat, Smokey, did well. Crockett said he likes coming to the fair because of the rides and games on the midway.
“I just look forward to seeing my friends again,” said Lena Benter, who competed in the cat show with Button.
Kylee Eckelman of Seymour and her father, Nathan, brought her Hereford barrow to the fairgrounds to compete in an open swine show Saturday.
She said the hog, which they call Big Red, walks kind of bad, so she’s not sure how he will do in the show or the 4-H swine show on Tuesday.
Eckelman said you just never know what can happen in the show, but she was just happy to be at the fairgrounds.
“I love the fair,” the 17-year-old said.
Ally Robertson, 15, of Freetown said while taking a break from washing her Angus heifers that she was excited the fair had finally arrived and was confident how the livestock she had been working with for months would do when it came to showtime.