News : Benton County Fair Wrap Up

Ted Becker returned to the ring to show his cow 67 years after first showing one as a 4-H member

The Benton County Fair was full of activities for everyone. It was a blur of people and animals, projects to be judged, volunteers, competitors and attendees. To sum it up in an article would be impossible. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so this will be a really, really long story! Click on any of the links to take you to the album with pictures concerning that event.

The fair started off with the Legion's color guard. With representatives from each of the branches in the county, they held a short program recognizing each of the groups and their commander. Following this the Fair Queen was named in a ceremony in the grandstands. The Legion Color Guard/Fair Queen Crowning started off the evening with a lot of fanfare for the girls who competed. Some of the contestants had sisters who were previous queens, so some of the candidates were familiar with the scene.

The crowning of Shelby McDonald as queen and Olivia Sash as the Princess, was followed by a ride through the fairgrounds to show off the Queen and her court.

There were the usual animal shows, including the swine show, dairy show, horse show, dog show and others that I couldn't get to.

I have to mention Ted Becker, seen above. Ted was an alumnus who showed cows 67 years ago, from 1942-1952 when he was a Benton County 4-H member. He returned this year to participate in the fair. He, of course, won this category for showing his cow.

After winning he said a few words. First, he thanked the people of Benton County, and then shared how 4-H has been a large part of his life. He was a 4-H club leader in Linn County for 25 years and for 15 years he was a Holstein youth leader, he went on to win other competitions at the National and World Dairy Expo.

He reminisced how when he was showing his cows, he had a cow that ate alfalfa and then bloated but he needed to show the cow later in the day. He said he did what you'd do, he got the garden hose and relieved her of the gas built up inside of her. This of course brought a chuckle from the crowd all understanding the predicament.

In horticulture (this link will show pics from the cooking demo too) the competition was on for the best plants. One display that caught my attention was the hen and chicks in a hen cookie jar as the pot.

Connie McClintock held a cooking demonstration for making scones and cream puffs. She also brought samples of each for those in the class to sample.

Also on display were the photo entries, crafts and needlework. Judging the various entries was not an easy task. The photography alone produced several photos to choose from.

The Barnyard Olympics, which were entertaining was held in the cattle barn. In this event, two teams raced against each other. First they would put on a work shirt, then ride their "horse" (a pool noodle bend down on one end and decorated to look like a horse) around a couple buckets, then don gunny sacks, hop down to the end of the ring where they had to join hands and pass a hula hoop over the entire row or players then they had to corral their chickens inside a hula hoop. Fortunately, none of the chickens popped during this game, that could have been quite messy. Of course, the "chickens" were black and white balloons that in the course of the game would "get out of their coop" at any time so the contestants would have to corral them as quickly as possible. The last challenge in the obstacle course had the groups standing in a line. The first would fill a small bucket with water and then transfer the water over their head to the person standing behind them by pouring it into the bucket of the next contestant. The object was to fill an ice cream bucket on a table at the back of the line.

The countless hours spent to prepare for the week at the fair were obvious. If there were any glitches they weren't noticed. The Fair Board and all that put their time and effort into this, a simple "thanks" wouldn't cover all of the work that you put into this, but thank you.