Mike Pound: Youth fair can be fun but tough week

Local News

Discussion

July 10, 2007

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Tue Jul 10, 2007, 05:02 PM CDT

By Mike Pound

Globe columnist

It looked like rain Tuesday morning at the fairgrounds in Carthage Municipal Park.

Of course, lately it pretty much always looks like rain. But still, I figured that rain would be sort of unwelcome for the kids setting up their pens for the rabbit show at the 51st annual Jasper County Youth Fair. I figured correctly. The rain would be unwelcome but not unexpected.

“Every year it’s either rained or been hot and humid,” Tucker Dunaway said as he tied name tags on his rabbit cages.

Tucker was speaking with the confident voice of a four-year veteran of the youth fair. The 13-year rural Carthage 4-H member started showing rabbits at the youth fair when he was 9 years old and he proudly pointed out a gray lion-head rabbit that has won the Best of Show ribbon for the past two years.

“I started raising rabbits because people told me I had a way with animals. I guess I’ve done real well,” he said.

While we talked, Tucker reminded me that I spoke to him last year at the fair. I told him that he’s grown a lot since then and he grinned.

Working near Tucker was 10-year-old Chet Nichols. This is Chet’s second year in the rabbit competition. Chet told me that he owns and cares for 20 rabbits. I asked him how long it takes each day to feed and care for his rabbits. Chet looked at his mom, Dee Nichols, before he spoke.

“Tell him how long it should take. Then tell him how long it really takes you,” Dee said with a smile.

Turns out, according to Chet, that it should take him 10 to 15 minutes to do his rabbit chores but it sometimes winds up taking him 45 minutes to an hour.

I told Dee that I felt her pain.

That’s what I like about the Jasper County Youth Fair — you can always find someone who will take the time to chat. My wife has been going to the youth fair since she was a kid. Heck, my wife actually was once the Jasper County Fair Queen. She was the prissiest fair queen ever crowned, but she still loves the fair. When we got married, my wife started dragging me to the fair and we’ve been dragging our 9-year-old daughter, Emma, to the fair since she was a baby.

We like to wander through the fair and look at the animals and the other 4-H exhibits. We like to watch the kids chase the greased pig. We like to grab something to eat from the many vendors — Emma is partial to cotton candy — but mainly we like to chat with folks.

We chat with folks that we’ve known for years. See, just about everyone heads out to the fair at least once. We also like to chat with people we don’t know. My wife and Emma like to talk to the owners of the livestock, who you can usually find sitting in a canvas chair near their animals. Emma thinks it’s cool that a lot of the kids get to spend the night at the fair. I think it’s cool that for many people the fair is a chance to visit folks they’ve known for years.

Dee told me there is a sense of family among most of the fair competitors.

“I was in 4-H for 10 years and my kids started as soon as they were old enough. Every year now I see parents out here who I used to be in 4-H with,” Dee said.

So it’s a fun week, but it can be a tough week, Dee said. Because the rabbit show is one of the earliest competitions and because competitors are expected to display their animals through Saturday evening, Dee and her family will spend most of this week at the fairgrounds looking after Chet’s rabbits.

Of course, they won’t be alone. With more than 300 4-H and FFA members competing, there will be a lot of families spending the week at the fairgrounds. They’ll work hard but they’ll have some fun, too.

And it will probably rain at least once. And when it’s not raining, it will probably be hot and humid.

But that’s the fair.

Text Only

Local News

Water company cites reconnections
The May 22 tornado has caused a dramatic drop in water usage for the Missouri American Water Co., but things are starting to turn around — one reconnection at a time.

February 10, 2012 1 Photo
Survivor of ’78 Connor collapse dead at age 64
A big story in the history of Joplin was the 1978 collapse of the Connor Hotel at Fourth and Main streets. Alfred Summers, the man at the heart of that story, died at 6:41 a.m. Friday at St. John’s Mercy Hospital in Joplin after an illness. He was 64.

February 10, 2012
County asks for dismissal of sheriff’s suit
The Jasper County Commission is the final authority in budget allocations, including those from the county’s Law Enforcement Sales Tax fund, county lawyers have argued in a motion recently filed in Jasper County Circuit Court.

February 10, 2012
Winter weather back in forecast
The arctic front that passed over Missouri on Friday will bring cold temperatures to the region tonight.

February 10, 2012
Weather service upgrading radar at Springfield station
The National Weather Service radar station at Springfield will be out of service for about two weeks to permit the installation of dual-polarization technology.

February 10, 2012
MSSU, PSU to conduct financial-aid events
Missouri Southern State University in Joplin and Pittsburg (Kan.) State University each will conduct events Sunday to help high school seniors with completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

February 10, 2012
Authorities term deaths of teens murder-suicide
Authorities say a teenage woman apparently shot her estranged boyfriend several times before turning the gun on herself and taking her own life.

February 10, 2012
Mike Pound: One man in America wants his robo call
I like to think I have pretty thick skin. If I didn’t, all the emails I get with the subject lines that read “Hey moron” would bother me. But they don’t, so I do.

February 10, 2012
Proposed Kan. abortion ban blocked by abortion foe
An influential anti-abortion legislator is blocking the push for a ban on abortion in the Kansas Constitution, highlighting a split among abortion opponents over tactics and frustrating the group advocating the “personhood” proposal Friday.

February 10, 2012
Kansas House GOP issues tax plan
House Republican leaders are proposing a plan to cut Kansas income taxes, removing one key objection to an earlier proposal from Gov. Sam Brownback.

February 10, 2012
More Local News Headlines

Water company cites reconnections

Local News

Search Results

Discussion

Mike Pound: Youth fair can be fun but tough week

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr wants the city to distribute weather radios to all Joplin homes that don’t have one. That’s 11,000 radios. Do you think that’s a good use of $300,440?

Site Map

Contact Us