A look inside the main agriculture building at the 2020 Scioto County Junior Fair
A look inside the main agriculture building at the 2020 Scioto County Junior Fair
Olivia Percell shows her Reserve Champion market lamb
Ava Artrip with her Grand Champion market lamb
LUCASVILLE — While there were no rides, no tents of food vendors selling your favorite fair food, no carnival games, no fair music, the Scioto County Fairgrounds in Lucasville still managed to have some of the sights and smells of day one of the Junior Fair.
The Scioto County Fair Board made the decision back in May to proceed with their plans for this year’s Fair without the Senior Fair, but also keeping in mind the need for having a Junior Fair for local 4-H members to showcase their hard work over several months or years with their livestock.
Scioto County Fair Board Treasurer and Secretary Rob Seaman on Monday discussed some of the decisions that went into being able to put on the Junior Fair, including one way entries and exits to and from the pen and on-site restrooms, no animals being kept overnight at the Fairgrounds, and creating enough space for people to comfortably socially-distance while observing the livestock shows.
“We made this call year early in the crisis that we’re in, we decided at least we wanted to try and have the Junior Fair,” Seaman said. “In discussions of trying to do this, we’ve had to work with the county health department, we’ve had to work with those at the 4-H office, our agricultural committee to try and put this on for the 4-H’ers, for the children.”
This year’s market lamb livestock competition, which ended the first day of the Junior Fair festivities, had 34 individual competitors, in addition to the breeding ewe and showmanship contests. While the Senior Fair activities were mostly canceled in May, Seaman emphasized the importance of having the Junior Fair take place even in a year when many things look and feel different at the fairgrounds than in years past.
“It’s all about the kids. Everything we do here, the way I see it, is about the kids,” Seaman said. “A county fair is for the kids. Given the fact that we can even do this, even though it’s in a unique setting, I’m just glad we’re able to have it for them.”
This year’s fair is the first in which social distancing guidelines, mask wearing requirements, and a limit placed on the number of people allowed on the fairgrounds were put into place in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the state of Ohio and Scioto County.
Similar to how many individuals have quickly adopted local mask mandates in public spaces, the audience for the Junior Fair followed the Fairgrounds and state guidelines to be able to attend and support those in the livestock shows. Even the competitors wore their masks while inside the pen showcasing their animals.
“We put these guidelines out, these folks are following instruction and being safe,” Seaman said. “That’s all we’ve asked of them from the start and I’m really proud of the people who are here — the children, their parents, spectators. They’ve all worked really hard to make sure we’re in compliance with what we need to do.”
Following the chicken show Monday morning, Junior Fair attendees began the sheep show at 3 p.m. with the senior and junior showmanship contests. The judge for the sheep show was Roger Hunker of Bellevue, Oh. Hunker is the owner of Breeders World farm and has children who have shown lambs, pigs, catttle and goats at all levels.
Mackenzie Koverman, a 2020 Minford graduate and member of the Country Circus 4-H Club, earned first place in the sheep senior showmanship contest, just ahead of Faith Harting, a member Greensprouts 4-H Club, who placed second.
In the sheep junior showmanship contest, twin brother and sister Ava and Owen Artrip, members of the Happy Campers 4-H Club, placed first and second place, respectively.
In the Market Lamb contest, the Grand Champion was shown by Ava Artrip and the Reserve Champion was shown by Olivia Percell. The Grand Best Scioto County Market Lamb was shown by Makayla Wheeler and the Reserve Best Scioto County Market Lamb was shown by Cameron Thacker.
Tuesday’s events at the Junior Fair included the rabbit show at 10 a.m., the dairy/pack/pygmy show at 11 a.m., and the market goat show at 3 p.m. On Wednesday, the swine show will begin at 4 p.m. with check-in times slated between 7-9 a.m.
Each event of the 2020 Scioto County Junior Fair will be streamed on the Scioto County Fairgrounds Facebook page, including the full streams of each of Monday’s events.
The 2020 Junior Fair auction will be held entirely online, rather than on Saturday, Aug. 15 as originally scheduled. Interested buyers may visit the Scioto County Fairgrounds Facebook page for more information on how to register for this year’s auction which will begin the 15th and conclude Aug. 31.
Full results:
Breeding Ewe — Class 1
1st — Ryan Waddell
2nd — Grace Wilburn
3rd — Cole Frazier
Class 2
1st — Gracyn Coriel
2nd — Natalee Eskridge
3rd — Mary Beth Sherman
4th — Katie Maggard
Class 3
1st — Natalee Eskridge
Class 4
1st — Natalee Eskridge
2nd — Owen Artrip
3rd — Chase Bond
4th — Grace Wilburn
5th — Katie Maggard
6th — Mary Beth Sherman
Class 5
1st — Ava Artrip
2nd — Mackenzie Koverman
3rd — Ryan Waddell
Class 6
1st — Breanna Potters
2nd — Gracyn Coriell
Grand Champion Breeding Ewe —Ava Artrip
Reserve Champion Breeding Ewe —Natalee Eskridge
Market Lamb — Class 1
1st — John Keller
2nd — Layla Neu
3rd — Ryan Salyers
4th — Laney Strickland
5th — Elijah Evans
6th — Katie Strickland
Class 2
1st — Penelope Salyers
2nd — Zachary Mays
3rd — Chase Bond
4th — Grace Wilburn
Class 3
1st — Mackenzie Koverman
2nd — Natalee Eskridge
3rd — Mia Crum
4th — Houston Bennett
5th — Madison Mays
Class 4
1st — Olivia Percell
2nd — Olivia Neu
3rd — Ava Potters
4th — Breanna Potters
5th — Faith Harting
6th — Megan Johnson
Class 5
1st — Kendyll Ramey
2nd — Makayla Wheeler
3rd — Owen Artrip
4th — Micah Thacker
5th — Tate Johnson
6th — Lafe Potters
Class 6
1st — Ava Artrip
2nd — Cameron Thacker
3rd — Trinity Bowling
4th — Miranda Johnson
5th — Mary Elizabeth Sherman
Class 7
1st — Shaun Lawhorn
2nd — Jacob Davis
Grand Champion Market Lamb —Ava Artrip
Reserve Champion Market Lamb —Oliva Percell
Grand Best Scioto County Market Lamb —Makayla Wheeler
Grand Reserve Scioto County Market Lamb —Cameron Thacker
Senior Showmanship
1st — Mackenzie Koverman
2nd — Faith Harting
3rd — Grace Wilburn
4th — Megan Johnson
5th — Ryan Waddell
6th — Chase Bond
7th — Cole Frazier
8th — Katie Maggard
Junior Showmanship
1st — Ava Artrip
2nd — Owen Artrip
3rd — Penelope Salyers
4th — Natalee Eskridge
5th — Shaun Lawhorn
6th — Elijah Evans
7th — Lafe Potters
8th — Tate Johnson
9th — Laney Strickland
Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1930, by email at jsmith@aimmediamidwest.com, or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2020 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved
