Junior fair board creates activities, food collection
Holmes County Junior Fair Board members Lauren Jones, left, and her brother A.J. Jones, board president, get the cornhole boards ready for a tournament on Aug. 14 at 3:30 p.m. at the fair. Lauren Jones got the idea for the tournament after seeing it done at the Wayne County Fair. The boards were constructed by the West Holmes Middle School building trades program and painted by junior fair board members.
As a way to liven up the final days of the Holmes County Fair, youth on the junior fair board created a couple of new activities, and the board itself will benefit from a collection for local food banks throughout the fair.
Junior fair board member Lauren Jones organized a cornhole tournament to be held just outside the Expo Building at Harvest Ridge. Registration will open the first day of the fair on Aug. 9 in the senior fair board office and continue until the start of the event at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 14. Entry is $5 per team.
“The last days of the fair are usually pretty quiet,” Jones said. The cornhole tournament and another first-time event, Celebrity Showmanship, headed up by Becca Schuch, board vice president, are meant to draw people to the fair.
Jones saw the idea for a cornhole tournament at the Wayne County Fair and worked with fellow fair board members to schedule one at the Holmes County Fair.
The winning team gets to choose a set of the cornhole boards constructed by students in the West Holmes Middle School building trades program with wood donated by Holmes Lumber.
Jones said program instructor Dave McMillen allowed them to have them done for free. “Because he loves helping out the community.”
Fair board members decorated the boards during a paint party.
For the Celebrity Showmanship, members invited influential community leaders to show a market hog, market steer, dairy steer, Boer goat, horse, llama and chicken for a chance to win awards. Seven “celebrities” agreed to participate. That show is scheduled Aug. 14 at 2 p.m. in the Expo Center.
“Since we didn’t get to have a full fair last year (due to COVID restrictions),” Schuch said, “junior fair board members were looking for something new to help make this the best Holmes County Fair ever.”
Throughout the fair visitors can help the Holmes County Junior Fair Board “Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer” by bringing nonperishable boxed or canned food to the fair to donate. Sponsored by Farm Credit Mid-America, the food collection will earn the junior fair board a $500 participation prize when the food is donated to local food banks in the county.
The food will be weighed on the trailer at the end of the fair, and the weight total will be submitted to Farm Credit for a chance to win top cash prizes in a nationwide contest among county junior fair boards. The county collecting the highest weight total will receive $5,000 for first place, $3,500 for second place and $1,500 for third place.
Holmes County Fair secretary Tara Sheldon said businesses interested in donating may call the fair board office at 330-674-0869 to schedule a pickup.