For Release July 31, 2005

The County Fair Community

AGRI-VIEWS
by Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent

The livestock barns at the county fairgrounds are quiet again, just as they are for 51 weeks out of the year. The wind blows through the open air building as do the pigeons, sparrows and flies. The many smells of the livestock, some pleasant, some otherwise, are already fading. Trampled grass and footprints in sand and mud are the only evidence of the small community that existed there just a few days ago.

Thursday afternoon, just a couple hours before the fair culminating sale started, I sat at the announcers stand and looked over the barns and the fairgrounds. The sale ring was set for the auction. Chickens, geese, cattle, hogs and sheep set the background for the chorus that regularly featured the solo voice of an excited 4-Her playing with friends or getting ready for the sale. The crowds were starting to arrive for the barbecue and watermelon feed. I just sat and watched and listened and inhaled all the odors and aromas trying to capture the complete feeling before it was gone.

I often spend time at the fairgrounds the week or two ahead of the fair taking care of my responsibilities to make sure that the facilities are ready for the Geary County Free Fair. The area has been sanitized by nearly a year of weather. Surprisingly, all those buildings seem rather small when they are empty. I can walk from one end to the other rather quickly when nothing and no one is present. That same walk can take a lot longer when there is livestock to look at and people to visit with. It almost seems impossible that we could get as many animals into those buildings as we do. The silence and the solitude of a fairground, when no one else is around, is astounding.

But then, for that short week, a community is born. The fairgrounds become a gathering place for families, friends and neighbors. People talk about the judging that is taking place, the projects being exhibited and friends not seen or now gone since the last fair. The 4-H members strengthen old friendships and make new ones. Youngsters not yet old enough to join 4-H watch admiringly as older siblings participate and they dream of the day that it's their turn to show off their project for the judge.

Parents, aunts and uncles help 4-Hers with the "learning by doing" process, and older 4-H members pass on those skills to younger 4-H members. A village is born and everyone shares in the raising of the children. No one cares whose responsibility it is, everyone just pitches in and does it!

The auctioneers chant is now just an echo. The screeches of childly delight and the laughter of the adults sharing a story have been scattered by the wind out to the hills. For a few more days you might find a visual reminder that there used to be a community there, albeit briefly. But the community still exists. It may be a virtual community spread across the county now, but the friendships and the lessons learned are still there.

There will be other events of gathering in the months to come. There will be discussions of the this year's fair and talk of fairs yet to come. But everyone remembers what it was like to be at the county fair. And everyone dreams of next year, when the community can come back together and for a few brief days, the fairgrounds again become home.

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