Anita Campbell
County Reporter
The Missouri State Fair always brings me memories of my Grandmother Minnie Arnett who loved to attend the end of summer event and take me as well. We started going to the fair together when I was only two years old and it became a time-honored tradition with us. In fact, it had always been a dream of my grandmother to camp at the fair and visit every day of the event. Well, I fulfilled my grandmother’s dream by living the past twelve days in my daughter and son-in-law’s RV on the MSF campgrounds along with several of my grandchildren.
We started our adventure two days before the fair started by loading up the grandchildren’s Boer wethers into the stock trailer and hauling them to Sedalia for the show on Wednesday. We also took six chickens and three ducks to drop off at the poultry show which started on Thursday. I somehow miscalculated how many chickens had been entered into the contest and we had an extra Polish chicken with us. I didn’t want to drive all the way back for just one chicken so I offered her to the FFA Children’s Barnyard for the duration of the fair and they agreed since we had also brought two Boer does for their Barnyard event as well.
Anyway, we arrive at the barn, unload all our gear as well as the goats, then proceed to wash all the goats in preparation for the show the next day. If you have never washed a goat, let me tell you, they don’t like it and between spraying water everywhere on a jumping goat, the person washing it usually is as wet as the goat. Anyway, the kids washed all the goats, used the dryer to get them dry and then used a product to make them smell less like goats.
The day of the show arrived and it was raining. Of course, despite the drought there is always one rainstorm during the fair so we trudged over to the Sheep Building to assess the damage to the freshly washed goats. Granddaughter #1 (Amelia) determined we had to rewash all the goats so we did. As we sat down for a break, Grandson #3 (Connor) decided to brush his goat and picked up the shampoo by mistake and poured it on the goat’s back. He thought it was a shine product but it wasn’t so he had to take his goat back to the shower for yet another bath.
We went back to the RV to change clothes and prepare for the show. Connor complained that he had the wrong jeans because they were too big. We tried switching the jeans with Grandson #4 (Henry) but said jeans were also too big for him. We determined that we only had one pair of jeans for two boys so Connor wore the smaller size and Henry wore the bigger ones but even with a belt the jeans were too big and kept falling down.
Daughter #2 (Amanda) was at the Sheep Building waiting for us when we arrived. She of course wanted to know why Connor was wearing Henry’s jeans. I explained that somehow Connor had brought his dad’s jeans instead of his own so now we only had one pair of jeans and two boys. The result was that the boys went to the restroom and switched jeans. Henry wore his jeans to show his goat and then as soon as that was over the boys rushed back to the restroom for Connor to put on Henry’s jeans so he could show his goat in the proper attire. While Henry waited for his jeans, he wore Gary’s jeans with zip ties in the belt loops to hold the pants up. Amelia said she was glad she was the only girl in the family showing goats since no one would mistake her jeans with sparkles on the pockets to belong to anyone else.
All three of the children did a great job showing their goats and I was very proud of them. I had no idea there were that many goats in the state of Missouri but obviously, goats are a popular commodity because there are a lot of them.
The next day, we checked on our chickens and ducks and discovered Lucky, the Khaki Campbell duck, was considered the Best of Breed for the Fair. Lucky is lucky to be alive since he escaped the chicken coop when racoons invaded and killed the chickens. He is three years old and wins awards at every fair we enter him. Anyway, the children participated in the poultry show and we walked around the fairgrounds for a while.
On Saturday, two of my Kansas City grandchildren Grandson #5 (Grant) and Granddaughter #5 (Anna) came down to the fair to spend the day with me. We walked around the fairgrounds to see all the exhibits as well as taking in a few shows. Daughter #1 picked up her two children at noon and took them back to Warsaw and I was left with four, ages 9, 6, and two three-year-olds. It was hot in the afternoon so we walked to the camper for lunch and a short rest. When the sun went down, we walked back to the fairgrounds to ride several rides. Clara and Anna are both 3 years old so there were a few rides they couldn’t ride without an adult so I bit the bullet and climbed onto several different rides. There was one that I was afraid I was not going to be able to get out of but somehow, I pulled myself up. My favorite ride was the Ferris wheel because we could see all over the fairgrounds.
Anyway, it was almost midnight before we headed back to the camper and much to my surprise my son-in-law Gary was sitting at the camper when we arrived.
“Your daughters are going crazy because you are not answering your phone,” he explained.
“Oh, I left it here because it was dead and I needed to charge it,” I said. By this time the two little girls were very tired so I got them ready for bed. I discovered that in the excitement of the carnival, the two little girls had accidents and we were going to need more clean pants. Gary offered to go to pick up some pull ups. After a quick change, I put them to bed while the boys climbed into their bunks. Gary headed off to Warsaw and I dropped into bed.
The next morning it was pouring rain, but we had to check the goats into the fair at noon. I dressed the little girls then we left for breakfast. The parents joined us at the goat barn and we went through the washing process again.
We had a good day because everyone had on the right pants and no one fell down while showing his animal. Henry placed seventh; Connor placed sixth; Amelia placed fifth and she was fourth in goat showmanship. I had to remind them that there were 781 goats at the fair and to remember we learn from every experience.
The next day the goats and the chickens went home while we had to prepare the rabbits to go up to the fair the next day. Rabbits are a little harder to show because they have to be placed in cages and fed and watered morning and night. Connor was most excited when his Junior Buck, Apollo, won Best of Breed the first day of competition in the Open Youth Show. He was so happy because he had lost his prize rabbit from last year and didn’t think any rabbit could replace Roger, but Apollo seems to be doing well.
On the next day we were blessed with cool weather. In fact, early in the morning I wore a sweater which is unheard of during the State Fair. Connor was entered in the “Make it with Honey” contest so we took all of his stuff to the 4-H Building early on Friday morning and he gave his demonstration on how to make chocolate chip cookies with honey instead of sugar. The cookies were delicious and Connor won third.
Both Amelia and Connor were entered into Rabbit Showmanship so we were at the Rabbit Building most of the day. Connor received fifth place and Amelia received second place. There were 47 contestants. I was very proud of both of them.
The next day Henry gave a demonstration on “How to Make Scrambled Eggs”. This is Henry’s first year as a 4-Her but he gave a demonstration in front of a crowd at the Missouri State Fair. He was great and he even handed out plates of eggs to several people.
The cool weather didn’t last forever and by Saturday evening the bunnies were laying flat in their pens. They spend most of their time in an air-conditioned building so they were not enjoying the fair. Luckily, the Rabbit Superintendent released them Saturday night so we loaded up the rabbits and the camper and headed for Benton County.
Sunday morning, I went out to feed the animals and found Lucky, the prize-winning duck, with his head caught in the fence. I don’t know what he thought he was doing but he stuck his head through the wire and wound his neck into the wire above. Henry helped me pull him out and we put him into a water pail with cool water. I wasn’t sure he was going to make it but as in Lucky fashion within an hour he was walking around and flapping his wings.
His neck appears to be sore but he spent most of the day sitting in his water pail.
Pappy and I went to Sedalia Sunday night to retrieve our goats, Beth and her twin sister Monica from the FFA Barnyard. We also brought our lone Polish hen home as well. All three seemed to be glad to be back on the farm.
The Fair was great, we had fun and I spent a lot of quality time with several of my grandchildren and now they are all going back to school. What will I do with all this free time?
