Let's go

to the fair

By Eric Freeman/efreeman@columbustelegram.com

COLUMBUS -The preparations are complete, and the stage is set for the 67th Annual Platte County Fair to begin Monday at the Platte County Agricultural Park.

Preparations for this year's county fair began immediately following last year's fair with meetings to review successes and challenges and to begin planning for this year.

“As soon as the fair is over we're doing something every month of the year in preparation for the next year's fair,” said Lisa Kaslon, extension educator and coordinator of the Platte County 4-H program. “We hire the judges in January, so they've known since then they'd be judging this year's fair entries. During the week of the fair we'll put in nearly 800 more man-hours before it's all over.”

Kaslon said about 500 4-Hers have already registered nearly 6,000 pre-entries, including animals and projects in the exhibit hall.

“I think that's just amazing, and these numbers don't include the open class entries.”

Kaslon said the popularity of goat and rabbit projects is increasing. This year there are about 120 pre-entries for goats, which she said is up significantly from previous years.

“A big part of that increase is from the Fantastic 4-Hers Club,” Kaslon said. They're also very involved in rabbit pre-entries this year. In the past few years we've only had one or two entries for rabbits, and this year we have 50 pre-entries listed.”

Highlights of the upcoming fair include The fashion show at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Ag Park Club Room in the Exhibit Hall. The entries are judged in two categories - construction and fashion review. Entries include Decorate Your Duds projects and any apparel or clothing items the 4-Hers have made. The construction category judges the quality of the item and the fashion review judges how it fits and the modeling of the project.

The Horse Show, featuring 219 entries, will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the outside arena. The show includes halter classes, showmanship, barrel and pole bending, English equitation, western pleasure and more.

The official public kickoff of the fair is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday evening with the start of the talent show and the exhibit hall grand and reserve and open class awards show. The Merriam's Shows and Rides Midway opens at 6 p.m. Wednesday and at 7 p.m. the Barrel Racing event will be in the outdoor arena.

Highlights for Thursday begin at 7 a.m. with the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Agri-Business Breakfast at the Ag Park Club Room.

Thursday's Senior Citizen's Day and Luncheon begins at 10 a.m. at the Exhibit Hall Club room. Team roping and 4-Wheeler Races will be Thursday evening in the outdoor arena and the Grandstand.

Grandstand events include the Monster Truck exhibition at 8 p.m. Friday and Chris Cagle performs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening.

“There's nine of us in the extension working with literally 100s of volunteers to make all this work,” Kaslon said. “We take it very seriously and want to get it right so the kids leave the fair experience with good memories. It really does take a community of people to pull this off. This is everybody's county fair and we at the extension play just a small part in making it all happen. We couldn't do it without the help of all our volunteers.”

The Platte County Extension office, located at 2610 14th St., will be closed during the week of the fair. Extension personnel can be reached by calling 564-7712 or 562-4005.

Open Class

Open Class Fair Books for the 2007 Platte County Fair are available at the Platte County Agricultural Park General Office.

Exhibitors of any age who are residents of Platte, Boone, Butler, Colfax, Madison, Merrick, Nance, Polk, and Stanton counties are eligible to enter items in the Open Class Division of the Platte County Fair.

Categories include Poultry, Rabbits, Field and Garden Crops, Floral, Baked and Canned Goods, Fine Arts, and Photography.

Open Class entry dates and times are:

Fine Arts - Monday, July 9, 7:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Wednesday, July 11, 7:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Baked & Canned Goods, Field & Garden Crops, Floral, and Photography.

Poultry - Wednesday, July 11, noon - 3 p.m.

Rabbits - Friday, July 13, 8 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.

Rules and regulations are printed in the fair book. For more information contact Jill Goedeken at 564-0740.

67th Annual Platte County Fair Schedule

No Admission Charge to Grounds

Monday, July 9

7:30-11 am. - Enter Open Class Fine Arts exhibits - Starting Gate Cafe - Exhibit Hall.

8 am. - Entry of 4-H Exhibit Hall entries according to Entry Schedule or by 10 am. for non-interviewing judging - Home Environment, Photography, Clothing, Favorite Foods Revue, School Enrichment.

6:30 p.m. - Fashion Show - Ag Park Club Room - Exhibit Hall.

8-9 p.m. - Pen of 3 weigh-in - Columbus Sales Pavilion.

Tuesday, July 10

8 a.m. - Horse Check-In.

8 a.m. - Sheep, Goat and Poultry pens available for arrival.

8 a.m. - Pen of 3 Beef Show - Columbus Sales Pavilion.

9 a.m. - 4-H Horse Show - Ag Park Arena.

Wednesday, July 11

7:15-1 0 am. - Enter Open Class Baked Goods and Canned Goods - Starting Gate Caf� - Exhibit Hall.

7:30-11:30 a.m. - Enter Open Class Floral - Starting Gate Caf� - Exhibit Hall.

7:30-11:30 am. t Enter Open Class Photography exhibits - Starting Gate Caf� - Exhibit Hall.

7:30-11:30 a.m. - Enter Open Class Field & Garden Crops - Starting Gate Cafe - Exhibit Hall.

8 a.m. - Swine pens available for arrival.

8 a.m. - Entry of 4-H Exhibit Hall entries according to Entry Schedule OR by 10 a.m. for non-interviewing judging - Foods, Decorated Foods, Banners, Horticulture & Wildlife, Engineering, Citizenship, Safety, Child Development, Heritage, Clover Kids.

12-3 p.m. - Entry of 4-H, FFA & Open Class Poultry and Rabbit - Behlen Barn.

4 p.m. - All 4-H & FFA Goats in place - Goat Barn.

4-4:30 p.m. - Weighing of 4-H & FFA Market Goats and Check-in of Breeding Goats.