Until Next Year

This years Henry County Fair was probably the best yet!! It's an event that I always love to go to because it's my hometown fair and brings back so many memories of my childhood, when I would ride the carnival rides or showing my general projects in the 4-H show. The results have been posted in the results tab of the blog.

I really enjoyed the experience of being the fair's first social media intern, creating a Twitter and Instagram page and blogging about some of the events that happened at this years fair and getting people excited for it beforehand. I learned a lot throughout the past week and hope you all have enjoyed keeping updated with the blog, as well as through Instagram and Twitter.


Here are some pictures from fair week

  

The 2015 Henry County Fair will be from June 23-28. Hope to see you all then!!!! 

Sleeping in the Barn

When all of the other fair attendees leave the fairgrounds there are some 4-Her's with livestock who stay to make sure they are properly taken care of and to keep other horses safe. Some stay in trailers, both others will sleep in the livestock barns. Ellie and Sarah Korthals have been showing horses for four years, Ellie has been staying overnight for three years while Sarah has been doing it all four.

"When you spend the night, you get to be with your horse to make sure nothing happens to them at night," says Ellie.
An example of something that could happen to the horses happened last year, a horse hit the gate and almost fell over horses could also get scarred of the halter and get scarred.
"If horses were to act up and no one was here, it would be pretty chaotic," says Ellie "most of the horses behave."
When nighttime comes around and the fairgrounds close for the night, the barn doors are locked and it gets really quite
"The only thing you can hear are the horses and the cars going by," says Ellie.

 It's also more convenient for Sarah and Ellie to stay over night because competitors wake up early to get their horses ready for competition and they would have to wake up even earlier to get to the fairgrounds. Ellie and Sarah's mom also stays at the fairgrounds in a trailer.

Their favorite part about staying at the fairground is it is considered a big sleepover and getting to be with your friends and horse. It's tough for them to decide on a least favorite part, but Sarah said it is getting to go to bed early when everyone is excited about competing the next day.

But staying overnight isn't always a fun experience. Adam Dynes,who shows both cattle and goats, stayed the night in the livestock barns for the first time last week at another fair when a really bad storm hit at four in the morning and the tornado sirens went off. Adam and the other competitors that were staying had to run for cover, but the storm passed and no one was hurt. He will even stay in the barns for three days at this years state fair. He's looking forward to it, but says it will probably get old by the time day three has come around. 

But overall everyone seems to enjoy the experience staying overnight at the fairgrounds.

"I enjoy it because your with your friends," says Ellie "Your already home for the rest of the year."

Be sure to catch the rest of the livestock shows, which will conclude tomorrow. 

Meet BLEND

From Left: Johnathan Estes, Adrian Fox, Aaron Chamness
and Nik Berry consist of BLEND. This is their second time
to the Henry County Fair

Nine years ago at John A Logan Community College in Southern Illinois, a talent competition was being held. The curriculum in the competition was to put together four people and songs from the 1950's in acappella. The band that won really didn't have a name but went by the name "The Do Oppers."  A former member of the group later decided on the name BLEND because all of how the members bring their voices together to create acappella music. The group consists of Aaron Chamness on tenor, Nik Berry on bass, Johnathan Estes on lead and Adrian Fox on baritone. Johnathan has been with BLEND for nine years, and is the only original member while Aaron has been with the group for four years, both Adrian and Nik have been with BLEND for a year.

BLEND sings acappella from original songs from both the 1950's and 1960's this is their second time at the Henry County Fair. Their favorite part of preforming is something all of the members agree on:

"Putting a smile on people's faces and making people happy" says Aaron.

Outside of preforming in multiple cities across Illinois and throughout the Midwest, Johnathan, Aaron, Adrian and Nik are just normal guys. Johnathan is a 4th grade teacher, Aaron works part-time at a local gas station, and Adrian and Nik work at a local restaurant in their hometown. They don't get asked to sing very much, except for Johnathan

"I have sang some spelling words for my 4th grade class" he says. 

You can catch BLEND for their final performances in the MEC tent tonight at 5 pm and 8 pm.        

Pageant Dance

Here are the dances that the Miss, Jr Miss and Little Miss did yesterday

Miss and Jr. Miss dance

Little Miss dance

Meet Gabe

Gabe Wand with his horse Powerful Madison
will compete in today's Harness Racing event 

Gabe Wand of Platteville, WI first got interested in harness racing when he was young.
"My dad has done it for 40+ years, I was born and raised right into it" he says.
He drove in his first race in a matinee at age 13, this week at the Henry County Fair will mark 20 years since that has happened. Like any racer, his favorite part about racing is winning, but he also likes training young horses and teaching them how to be a race horse. Training a horse for harness racing isn't easy, every horse is different and has a different, but intense, training program that could range from sprints to long distance training.
"It's a conditioning program, you train them like athletes" says Gabe.

Besides harness racing, Gabe is also the President of Wisconsin Harness Race Association and on the Board of Directors for the United States Trotting Association. His duties mostly include overseeing the organization but some of his other duties include contracting individual county fairs, provide guidance on how to run an effective race program, and to help create a marketing program to get people excited for and attend the harness racing events.

But today Gabe is just another racer. It is his first time at the Henry County Fair, along with his horse, Powerful Madison, who will race in the 9th of 11 races in her first race since last October. Gabe says she may be feeling a little "short," meaning she is in shape, but not as in shape as the other horses she is competing against, but she is ready for competition.
The harness racing will take place at noon today in the grandstand with Twitter providing live updates throughout the races.

Meet Darren

Darren with his car that he will compete in the
2014 Henry County Fair

The demolition derby is a family tradition in the Hutchinson household. Darren's father, Darrell, participated in the demo derby for 18 years. This fueled Darren's interest to one day participate in the derby and when his father stopped competing, Darren then took the wheel and has been participating for 19 years in the demo derby. Darren has won a few demo derby's at multiple fair in the year's he has participated.  

"When I was young my dad did it back in the day and I've always enjoyed it" says Darren. 

Safety has changed in the last 25 years of the demolition derby but also the availability of the cars. "The cars aren't as available as they used to be, there hard to find" says Darren.

Another big component of the demo derby that has changed is the number of competitors. Darren mentioned that when Darrell competed there used to be 100+ cars in a class that would come to the  Henry County Fair. Now if the demolition derby gets 20 in a class it's a pretty decent turn out. 

What makes the Henry County Fair special for Darren is that "hometown feeling." 

Darren will compete in the Open Wire Class at this
year's Henry County Fair

"It's a fun time of the year. My parents took me when I was really little and it's always something I look forward too" says Darren, "I always like doing the demo derby to support the hometown fair."

Darren will compete in the Open Wire Class this Saturday, his father will be in the stands cheering him on.

"He enjoys it, every year he comes to watch the derby" says Darren.

Twitter

Follow @henrycofair for live updates of the Open Barrow Show