County fair schedule offers familiar, new activities
By JESSICA BERNHARDT
Staff writer
People planning to visit the Marion County Fair next week will be welcomed with familiar activities, as well as new ones.
The 4-H horse show will start the week's activities at 6 p.m. Monday in the arena. The Women's Ranch Rodeo will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the arena.
The well-known parade will begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on Main Street. After the parade, visitors can make their way to the fairgrounds for free sno-cones and to walk through the livestock buildings, 4-H, and commercial buildings. In addition to the normal activity of Wednesday night, the Style Revue will be at 7:50 p.m. in the Pavilion and a Dog Agility Show will begin at 8:30 p.m. on Memorial Field. The Style Revue will offer a wide variety of clothing modeled by 4-H members who have either made the garments or purchased them for the event.
The Sheep/Market Goat show will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The pedal tractor pull will be at 7 p.m. From 7:30 to 9 p.m. the annual watermelon feed will be west of the Pavilion.
Wednesday also marks the first night of the rodeo, which begins at 8 p.m.
A new contest this year is the hay bale decorating contest. Each 4-H club will have the opportunity to put their skills to work and decorate a hay bale that is fitting with the theme of the fair, "Marion County Fair — Dog-gone Fun!"
The dairy goat show will begin Thursday's activities at 9 a.m. Dairy cattle will be shown at 1 p.m., and the bucket calf/beef show will start at 5:30 p.m.
Another new event, the Duct Tape contest, will begin Thursday evening with a workshop in the 4-H building.
Friday's events begin at 8 a.m. with the swine show. The Business Person's Appreciation barbecue will start at 5 p.m. Tickets for the barbecue are available at the Marion County Extension Office for $2.50. At 6:30 p.m. the annual livestock/premium auction will begin. In addition to the 4-H activities scheduled for Friday night, an ATV Challenge and Figure 8 Race is slated to begin at 7 p.m. in the arena.
Saturday events will begin at 9 a.m. with the Round Robin Showmanship Contest. The 4-H Celebration will begin at 11 a.m. where the Round Robin champion is crowned and other 4-H achievements are praised.
The 36th annual Demolition Derby is scheduled for Saturday — the last night of the fair. The derby will begin at 7 p.m. in the arena.
