EATON — Ah, the fair.

Many people come every year to experience and enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of our annual county fair. Whether you come to the fair to enjoy the rides and entertainment, the food along the midway, or the many 4-H projects, there is a lot of work put into the fair that you might not know about.

Hundreds of youth projects are brought to the fair, ranging from horses to clothing. Youth, through a Junior Fair organization such as 4-H and FFA, work all year to raise, grow, make, or train a quality project or animal. Every day they are refining their work, be it grooming and washing an animal or organizing a collection, in order to exhibit at the fair.

The organizations mentioned earlier perform different functions besides showing animals. In 4-H, youth are provided with over 200 project choices based on interest areas. FFA members can also exhibit a shop or crop project that they have worked on in the Vocational Agriculture classroom or in a shop.

Along with showing their individual projects, the fair provides exhibitors with many chances to make new friends and visit with old friends. Some of these activities are: barn games, a talent show, a cookoff, style reviews, a king and queen contest, and a dance that occurs on the Friday of the fair.

The county fair is not only a place to have fun. It provides an ideal leadership experience for its young participants. This experience, in turn, goes far in developing skills like problem solving, decision making, program planning and developing responsibility. These skills boost confidence, which helps children do well in their education, which in turn helps them to be in a good position to get a job and support themselves. The fair carries out the mission of positive youth development, which is to develop competent, caring, concerned citizens.

Along with exhibiting projects, a select few youth are on the Junior Fair Board. JFB members grow their leadership skills even more as they plan and conduct various shows, activities, and conduct fundraisers to help pay for awards. They also work with adults on committees that help decide how shows should be run and many other pre-fair and fair related activities.

You are encouraged to come out to the fair and support the many youth exhibitors.

Thank you and enjoy the 2019 Preble County Fair!