Fair brings both local and out of town competitors
Spice is pictured getting prepared to go for a ride with Hailie Brookover. Josie Sellers | Beacon
COSHOCTON – Some people come to the fair for the food, some for the rides and others for the exhibits, but for Becky Priest it’s all about the grandkids.
Her grandchildren Cal, Cayla and Camden Shrimplin all show pigs at the Coshocton County Fair. Camden will participate in the open class pee-wee show and Cal and Cayla in the junior fair market hog show.
Even though he’s only 4-years-old Camden isn’t afraid at all to be in the show ring with the pigs that can weigh around 300 pounds.
“Ours sit like dogs and roll around and you can rub them,” said Renee Shrimplin, Cal, Cayla and Camden’s mother. “He’s played with them in the yard.”
Camden, however, wasn’t just looking forward to showing pigs. He also wanted to eat hot dogs and ride the frog ride.
Family also got Hailie Brookover into showing animals at the fair.
“My grandma showed and I’ve done it ever since I was little,” she said. “It’s become a tradition.”
Brookover planned to compete this year with a quarter horse named Spice that belongs to family friend Heather Parkhill and with her pony.
“It’s enjoyable to see the kids do what they love and all the hard work they put into this,” Parkhill said.
The fair even brings competitors from out of town.
“I’m 82-years-old and I showed cattle when I first came here, but they had to haul me in because I didn’t even have my driver’s license yet,” said Dick Matlack from Mount Gilead.
He eventually switched to bringing sheep to the fair because that’s what his children decided to show.
“It became my project,” Matlack said.
This year he brought 30 head of sheep with him to the Coshocton County Fair.
“This one right here likes to stick her nose through the pen and the kids will come pet her,” Matlack said. “The sheep and goat barns are the ones the kids seem to like the most because the kids can usually pet them.”
Pat Schmidt from Huron County also brought his family’s sheep to the fair.
“We come down here every year,” he said. “They are really my wife’s sheep, but I take care of them. I think the nicest part of this fair is the agronomy building (or the agriculture hall).”
The people they’ve met also have brought competitors back.
“There are good people to talk to here,” said Jim Roman of Trinway. “I’ve made some good friends.”
He was showing Suffolk Sheep and this was his 54th year at the Coshocton County Fair.
“This is a good fair,” Roman said. “It’s the best I show at.”
Category: Arts & Entertainment
