GUERNSEY – Another fair week has come and gone, and this year’s fair was unlike any that had come previously and will most likely stand as one of the best weeks on record. That is what was said last year during a COVID ravaged fair, but this year’s fair was equally as memorable with the new Agriplex at the heart of the activities.

I have been to county fairs before, but I know that in my half a century of fair going, there were some things I had never seen. First of all, I had made my hiatus to Arizona which is, where I learned was hot as the surface of the sun with rattlesnakes.

After the new editor from North Carolina was slated to come on board, I was a bit depressed that I would have to be missing fair week and I’m not going to lie; I was a bit homesick.

When publisher Rob Mortimore and my former office manager Bailey Ervin teamed up to get me back home, I was thrilled. I made it back to Wheatland for fair week, stepped into my previous job as editor of the Platte County Record-Times and proceeded to take over 15,000 pictures at my favorite event.

I saw a Ninja Warrior Course put together by Pastor Jeremy and Lori Haroldson and their incredible team at IMPACT Ministries. I not only saw it, but witnessed it being put up in one day and taken down in one day.

They also managed to bring in for the second year, a national celebrity in Daniel Gil who is on NBCs American Ninja Warrior. His name at the fair was Kingdom Ninja and for all intents and purposes the Ninja T-shirts were the most seen T-shirts at the fair.

Daniel and his wife, Abby came to Wheatland, stayed for the show, ministered to the kids and didn’t duck into a trailer after a performance. He was not only visible, but also approachable.

I saw a pig in the junior livestock show sit on command and all it took was a few marshmallows. No, I’ve not been reading too much Charlotte’s Web. An actual huge pig was told to sit by his teenage trainer. He sat, he was awarded a pig biscuit and then he was sold for a huge amount of money.

On a very stormy night the junior livestock auction was not to be denied. Organizers were monitoring lightning strikes and as the sky got black and very ominous, the crowd was quickly ushered inside moments before the clouds belched out thunder, lighting and a deluge of rain.

I think the most memorable moment for me, however, was when my fiancé, up visiting from New Mexico was trying to get my attention from the other side of the show ring. She was waving her hands and I didn’t see her. She was persistent and we found out later, the auctioneers were under the impression that she was bidding on a sheep. They informed her that she could not wave her arms at an auction, her face became the color of blush and all things worked out as we didn’t have to pay $1,200 for a sheep that most likely wouldn’t have been allowed in my apartment.

We witnessed killer bands and many times activities that were going on at the same time, giving an overall picture of a three-ring circus. One of the most curious events was the library’s sponsoring of a book and a bite and providing an incredible meatball supper and teaming up with the local banks to put on the ice cream social. During the teen dance, all of a sudden, the music stopped, and all the kids turned their phones off stopped to read a book.  

Speaking of food, the dinner held before the junior livestock show which was dubbed, “the buyer’s bbq” and cooked by the Pie Tin Bakery and Catering featured prime rib, homemade au gratin potatoes, pasta and watermelon.

There was the 2nd annual Wild Goose Chase that was run Saturday morning and there was not a more perfect day for a 5K race. It was overcast and rather pleasant for running. 

The parade was magnificent and there were more people in Wheatland Saturday than I’d ever seen before. It was amazing. One of the most awe-inspiring moments came at the beginning of the parade where the national anthem was sung, and the entire parade crowd joined in. Not a person kneeling. Hands on hearts and hearts for America. Every hat came off, hands were on the hearts and there was not one person kneeling. I was so glad to be a part of a community that not only stood for patriotism but knew what it meant. 

The coup de gras, though had to be the massive crowd that gathered for the mutton bustin’ and the pig wrestling. There were literally so many people in the grandstands that I couldn’t capture it all with my camera in a single shot.

When I sent the pictures to friends in Iowa, Chicago and Los Angeles, they asked if it was a rock concert.

When I told them it was the crowd that had come to watch people wallow in mud wrestling pigs, they just simply had a hard time believing it. And they didn’t wrestle for 15 or 20 minutes, but I think that every person in town was somehow connected to that event, either with actual wrestling, betting on a team or family come to view the spectacle.

And I came away with a sense of great pride that I had come home and was part of this community. 

And with the quarantines of COVID resurfacing, the entire nation beginning to once again covering their faces, it was refreshing to see so many smiles. To hear so much laughter. And to be thankful that I found a place that cared so much, one for another.

All the fair results will appear in next week’s Record-Times and Guernsey Gazette.