Brenda Wade Schmidt
Enterprise
The Moody County Fair opens to the public Thursday with the local tradition of a parade and pork feed and continues through Saturday with plenty of 4-H contests and fun.
This year’s theme is open to interpretation, allowing parade participants to fill in the blank with what makes a county fair great.
Open class exhibits are judged today in order to be on display Thursday, while 4-H exhibits were judged Tuesday. About half of the 180 registered 4-H members in the county are expected to exhibit at the fair and will be showcasing projects that range from crafts and crops to chickens and cattle.
The first live animal show begins at 3:30 p.m. today at the community center where members will bring their cats and other companion animals for judging.
The poultry show is at noon Thursday, followed by the rabbit show at 2 p.m.
The parade lineup is at 5:30 p.m. at the museum where it will start at 6 p.m. on its route through downtown on Second Avenue and end in the school parking lot. The pork loin feed west of the grandstand is from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $6. An ice cream social starts at 6:30 p.m. near the community center, and the city band will play at 7 p.m.
Between 600 and 700 people typically eat at the community-style gathering, said Marlene Dahlmeier, Moody County Extension office manager and 4-H assistant.
“It’s really well attended,” she said. “That’s when we have our biggest group down there.”
A kid’s tractor pull is at 7 p.m., and 4-H members will give a robotics demonstration at 7:30 p.m. at the armory.
Some local 4-H members have taken an interest in robotics this year and will show what the project includes. “The kids got an active group going this year so they wanted to do a demonstration so people could see what they do,” Dahlmeier said.
The armory also will be open for people to look at 4-H and open class exhibits at that time and on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, livestock shows will begin at 9 a.m. in the Wally Koester Pavilion with dairy cattle, followed by different classes of goats and at sheep show.
The fair board also is offering a free meal Friday night at 6 in an effort to get community members back to the fairgrounds. It will be followed by the toilet bowl races at 7 p.m. in the school parking lot.
Road construction this year could make getting to the fairgrounds more difficult while work on the First Avenue sewer and water project continues. Engineers have told the city that the contractor’s goal will be to have the area as open as possible for the public to safely access it.
“If it can’t get repaved, it’s going to get touched up and maintained right through the fair,” said Shane Waterman with Clark Engineering, which is overseeing the project.
On Saturday, the swine show begins at 8 a.m. A small animal pet show and a junior ag Olympics for pre-4-H aged children, ages 3 to 7, will begin at 12:30 p.m., followed by the beef show at 1 p.m. A round-robin showmanship contest will be held at 3 p.m., and animals will be released from the fair at 4:30 p.m.
