What's new in 2022 at the Holmes County Fair

MILLERSBURG — The 99th Holmes County Fair opens Monday, with some new additions to enhance the experience.

Things new in 2022, aside from the online ticketing, include a new market sale lineup, an expanded carcass show and the addition of a jumbo video screen to enhance presentations in the exposition center.

Online ticketing offers flexibility

"We are off to a good start with online sales," said Fair Board President Kerry Taylor. "We believe this will provide a convenient addition for fairgoers moving forward."

General admission tickets also will be available at the gate for $6.

Taylor credits Fair Board Secretary Tara Sheldon and board member Rene Zimmerman for their efforts in putting the system in place.

Sheldon sees the online ticketing as a way to help at the fair and other events held at Harvest Ridge as well.

"This will of course offer much more flexibility for folks to purchase their week passes, reserved parking passes and grandstand tickets without having to work around our office hours," she said.

New carcass show

Livestock Sale Committee Chairman Matt Feikert explained the reasoning behind the change in sale order this year and the addition of hogs and lambs to the carcass show.

The Thursday night sale order is going to be broilers, ducks, turkeys and market hogs. In the past, it had been goats and then market hogs.

"We changed it up so we could sell the poultry earlier in the week and get them processed," Feikert said. "On Friday we'll have the dairy auction at 3:30 and the sale order for Friday night will be rabbits, beef feeders, dairy feeders, beef steers, market lambs, dairy goats and meat goats."

This year the top 10 in each of the three species, market hogs, market lambs and beef, will go to Sugar Valley Meats for processing. On Thursday, Aug. 18, a judge will apply all the parameters of judging carcasses to the top 10 of each of these shows.

The schedule for the show at Sugar Valley Meats will be: 4:30 p.m., sheep; 5 p.m., beef; and 5:30 p.m., swine.

Feikert said the sheep and swine committees approached him last fall about adding the hogs and lambs to the carcass show.

OSU Extension Educator Janessa Hill noted the carcass show is a great way for the students to learn more about their projects.

"The new carcass show is an awesome opportunity for youth to really see what the product and ultimately the consumer sees of their project," Hill said. "I am really excited to see how youth take what educational components Dr. Lyda Garcia (carcass judge) will offer to them and put into action on next year's projects."

Parents are welcome and encouraged to attend as well as other 4-H members who might want to learn more about the show.

More opportunity for success

This is another great learning opportunity for the kids, according to Feikert. They don't necessarily have to win to raise their animals right.

"We haven't done hogs and lambs for a long time, so I don't know how that will shake out, but in the past, it wasn't uncommon for a beef that finished near the bottom of the top 10 win the carcass show," Feikert said. "It helps give the exhibitors an idea that even if they didn't win, they did things the right way so that they rendered a high-quality carcass.

"If you finish in the top 10, but didn't win, you still have a chance to win the carcass show," he continued. "You may have fed your animal harder, or got more cover on it than what the live judges were looking for, and you made something that somebody is really going to like to eat. You just never know until you get in there and do it."

New video screen at expo center

Another new feature with an eye on improving the experience at the fair is the addition of a jumbo video screen in the Exposition Center. Fair Board Vice President Roger Boring undertook the project and saw it through.

Some buyers at the livestock sale in the past said the screens were too hard to read from way back in the building, Boring said.

"We used to have two 65-inch TVs sitting up there," Boring said. "And people couldn't read them. I had been thinking about setting up a video board, so, I reached out to a contact I had. I showed him a picture of this wall and sized it in there, and they gave me a quote."

From there, Boring got the go-ahead to pursue pledges. And once again, he said, Holmes County came through, covering the cost of the screen. One of the pledges was from the seller/installer of the system, who took 20-percent off the price.

And the 20-foot by 12-foot screen was purchased and installed.

"It's hard to keep asking people for money, but nobody hesitated at all. It's pretty amazing," he said. "The quality of the picture is amazing."

During the fair, the screen will show kids and their animals with information about them. The screen also will be available for a fee at non-fair functions taking place in the center, such as weddings, meetings and banquets.

New small animal barn proposed

While it won't happen this year, a new small animal barn has been proposed and approved by the board, and fundraising efforts have begun.

Something similar to a model displayed at a recent Holmes County Fair Board meeting will be erected along the southwest corner of the grounds between horse barn and the ag building.

Because of increased numbers in smaller animals such as rabbits, poultry, goats and sheep being shown, instead of housing them in tents outside the ag building, the animals will eventually stay in the new building.

Reach Kevin Lynch at klynch@the-daily-record.com.