The Athens County Fair allowed southeast Ohioans to enjoy deep fried food and rides, but it also recognized youth talent with events like the cookie decorating contest and the goat show.
Cookie decorating
The cookie decorating contest, which took place Aug. 8, allowed children to demonstrate their artistic abilities. Contestants were put on the clock and given various types and icing colors to decorate their vanilla wafer cookies. In the end, each contestant was given a ribbon in categories including most creative, prettiest, most colorful, best animal theme and most yummy looking.
The contest was judged and run by Girl Scout Troop 1407. Several members of the troop, Jesse Vaughn, Janey Lucas, Fern Sigman, Gracie Phiri and Larkin Mingus, all from Athens, said they loved to see the effort and creativity that the contestants displayed during the contest. The Girl Scouts said they enjoyed seeing contestants’ reactions to the awards and appreciated that every contestant was recognized for their efforts with a ribbon.
“Every kid gets an award and feels like they did a good job,” said Lucas.
Market goat show
The market goat show kicked off two days later. Young contestants flashed their showmanship skills in the race for the blue ribbon. After being separated into flights, awards were given out to each age group. The Market gGoat show ended with the cChampionship drive, where the most successful goats and showmen competed for the grand championship.
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The grand champion title went to a goat raised by Brice Stack, 13. Stack said he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to win. His routine of feeding his goat and making him look as nice as possible was the key to success, he said.
It will be difficult for Stack to forget his first time as grand champion.
“I feel pretty good, because I had never won before,” said Stack. “I was normally, like, reserve champion, so it’s really fun to win.”
The Market Goats sold for more than $9,000 at the Junior fair livestock sale the next day, smashing the previous record of around $5,500.
Other fair results
Little Kids Bike Parade
Coolest: Cali Phillips, Guysville
Most Creative: LeRoy Bowles, New Marshfield
Battle of the Bands
Winner: Calvin Jarvis, Guysville
Iron Chef Competition
Grand Champion: Annelise Stoltfus
Reserve Champion: Aubrey Thomas
More results
Additional reporting by Owen McDermott.
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