Excitement building for 174th Tuscarawas County Fair
DOVER (WJER) (Sept. 9, 2024) – It’s almost showtime for Tuscarawas County Junior Fair participants.
OSU Extension 4-H Educator Chris Kendle expects around a thousand livestock entries, which will start arriving at the fairgrounds for check-ins later this week.
“We have about 310 hog entries. The next most popular is broilers. We have about a hundred broiler entries, and steers are right up there too. We have a little over a hundred steer entries.”
Happy Homesteaders 4-H Club member Norah Randolph is competing in three related but separate categories (Market Steer, Beef Breeding, and Beef Feeder.)
“A market steer is like what you would call a ‘big boy’ calf, and then the Beef Feeder, I would say, is like a ‘little boy’ calf. Then, the Beef Breeding you can take once they’re born, and you can take them as a Market Heifer as they’re older.”
Randolph also serves on the Junior Fair Board alongside past Tuscarawas County Dairy Princess Kylie Mutti, who’s showing five animals including a heifer, Market Lamb, and Pygmy Goat.
“This is my second year on Junior Fair Board, and it is genuinely one of the most busiest times but also the funnest,” Mutt says.
Kendle says some kids have been working on their projects since last year.
“Ohio Department of Agriculture says that you have to be in possession of your animal for so long in advance of the fair, and that varies depending on the animal. So for example, a steer – that possession starts in December. Whereas for a horse, you have to have that starting in May, but a pig – that’s the beginning of June”.
The 174th Tuscarawas County Fair opens on Monday and runs through next Sunday with nightly grandstand entertainment and special discount days throughout the week.