Junior fair shows only to be held at 2020 fair
Mike Murphy of Athens County prepares to judge the poultry show at a past Coshocton County Fair.
Area youth will have the opportunity to showcase their animal projects during the junior fair only event scheduled Saturday through Tuesday, Oct. 3-6 at the Coshocton County Fairgrounds.
The shows, however, are not open to the general public. The only place they will be allowed is at the food trailers. No admission will be charged to exhibitors, those with wristbands or people coming in to get food.
“When the exhibitors check in, they will get a wristband and two more for their parents,” said Ron Seitz, junior fair director. “Once on the grounds, they have to abide by the same mandatory laws the governor has issued for the last six months. When you are inside a building, you have to have a mask on. When you are outside, if you can maintain 6 feet of social distancing, you don’t have to wear one.”
The area where shows are taking place will be fenced off to control the flow of people.
“People in the fenced-in area will be only those who are part of the junior fair shows,” Seitz said. “Food trailers will be in front of the grandstand, and those are open to the public and people showing animals. We will have a gate for the junior fair exhibitors to go through, and you can’t get through it without having a wristband on.”
Animals will be hauled in the day of the show and expected to leave the grounds within one hour after the show ends, except for those winning certain awards. There will only be market and breeding classes as pertains to each species.
“We wanted to minimize the amount of exposure between the judges and kids,” Seitz said. “Showmanship is a lot of one-on-one contact, so we felt it was something we could give up, helping minimize exposure.”
Seitz encourages people to visit the fair’s website at www.coshoctoncountyfair.org and Facebook page to stay up to date on any changes to the shows.
“We will continue to update information there,” Seitz said. “This stuff is so fluid that I’m sure something may change.”
Seitz said they are in the process of getting internet access for a couple of the show arenas to live-stream the shows.
“Our end goal is for people who can’t be there to be able to watch live on Facebook or our website,” Seitz said. “We are not looking to cut people out. We want to involve as many people as we can and as safely as we can.”
While most shows will take place Oct. 3-6, the horse show will be held the following weekend on Saturday, Oct. 10 in Hunter Arena.
Category: Arts & Entertainment
