It's that time again, when many families in Elkhart County, Indiana stop what they normally do and spend their days at the fair! Why? To be at the fair!
As a 4-H parent and leader that is where I will be for the duration of the fair. My daughters and I arrived about 8:30 AM; it has become our tradition to "watch the fair wake-up". Arriving early in the morning you see the fairgrounds when very few people are there and get to see the activity start. Animals are delivered to their appropriate pens; the animal barns are full of activity. Watching the walkways start to fill with people, seeing the food booths open, smelling the sents of fair food starting to cook, is all part of the experience.
There are many things to see and do at the Elkhart County Fair. The ECCC building is packed full of 4-H projects to look at. The Home & Family Arts building holds exhibits that are not 4-H projects. The Grandstand will have cheerleading competition, fair queen competition, tractor pulls, harness racing, motorcycle races, a rodeo, and demolition derby. There will also be concerts by Pat Benatar, Nicole C. Mullen, Kellie Pickler, Little Big Town, and Hootie & the Blowfish. You can watch a tiger show, thrill show, talent competition, parade, dog shows, balloon chase, cloggers, strong-man competition, llama shows, frog jumping, horse shows, pedal car races, chicken flying contest, longest apple peel contest, and much, much more. For a complete schedule visit http://www.4hfair.org/pdf/dailyprogram2008.pdf.
Don't know how to get there? Get diretions to the fairgrounds and the express route.
Once you arrive at the Elkhart County Fair the map below will help you know where to find the activity you are looking for.
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I was a 4H mom for 10 years and really really miss it. Enjoy these times!! What does your daughter do? My daughter rode horses for those years. She is in college now.
Karen, I have 2 daughters who have been out of 4-H for several years, but have 2 daughters, age 13 & 14, still in 4-H. They are in the 4-H Media club. There are very few Media clubs in 4-H and ours is the only one in Indiana that we know of.
Each of the members had the opportunity to give fair announcements on a local radio station for one day. They also produce a 4-H newpaper during the fair. The members watch activities, conduct interviews, watch concerts, etc. then write articles that they then use for their paper. We usually arrive for assignments no later than late morning and their last assigment will be anytime between early evening and the close of fair for the day. On the day that they co-edit we stay until they are done. This year the members were finished editing between 10:00 and 10:45 PM. Last year editing took as late as 3:00 AM. Media club is an awesome experience for them.
Next year the older daughter will be old enough to be a fair board apprentice. This will mean that she will be at fair board meeting every morning at 7:30 and have jobs for the fair board that she will have to do also. She will also be competing in the fair queen competition in 2 years.
As a 4-H leader I will not have to miss out of the experience when they age out.