Tatum Johnson will enter this cup in the pottery exhibit at the lowa County Fair.
This is fair week at the Iowa County Fair, the end of sometimes summer-long preparation for the projects exhibitors enter. Here is what a few of the hundreds of exhibitors said about the experience.
“I like it. You meet a lot of new people and make some pretty good friends,” said Peyton Raisbeck, who is in his fourth year of showing pigs at the fair.
He feeds, washes, walks and cleans up after his show animals for about an hour and a half twice a day.
It teaches him “responsibility, dedication and time commitment,” said his mother Sara Jorgenson, who did not grow up in agriculture and has learned along with her son.
Exhibitors from across the county bring exhibits from photography to baking and many other categories with 4-H Clubs, FFA and open class entries.
Talking with the judge helps him learn how to do better, like putting his corn silage and haylage in clear bags this year, Dieter Johnson said. And he will show a spring heifer and a pig. “This year I got my waders for Christmas” so he won’t get as wet washing his pig.
Tatum Johnson will take eggs, cornstalks, pottery and a pig to the fair.
Every day the kids wash the pigs and walk them around the yard.
It’s bonding for brother and sister, their father Jordan Johnson said.
“The satisfaction of completing a project is a huge confidence builder,” he said. “It teaches a lot of valuable lessons,” including how to write and address a letter to invite potential buyers to the livestock auction.
