County Fair offers something for everyone
The good times soared Wednesday evening at the Marion County Fair parade. Participants lined up on Third Street and headed down Ash Street to D to the fairgrounds.
At the fairgrounds, the 4-H exhibits, open-class exhibits, livestock, carnival, and rodeo were awaiting parade goers.
Today, 4-H judging began at 9 a.m. with the dairy show and the dairy cattle show at 1 p.m. and bucket calf and beef show at 7 p.m.
The National Guard rock climbing will be open from 4 to 10 p.m. Horse-shoe pitching competition begins at 7 p.m. The rodeo arena will be busy starting at 8 p.m. with something for all ages. Events include muttin busting and mini bull riding and calf scrambling for the kids.
Friday morning's activities start at 9 a.m. with the swine show. The 4-H livestock premium sale begins at 6:30 p.m. One of the fair's most popular events is the women's ranch rodeo which begins at 7:15 p.m. in the arena.
New to the fair this year is Family Day on Saturday which includes free airplane rides from 8 - 11 a.m., 4-H round robin at 10 a.m., FFA petting zoo at 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., puppet show at 2:30 p.m., bagpipers at 3 p.m., Van De Creek pedal pull at 4:30 p.m.
The fair ends Saturday night with its all-time most popular event the demolition derby which begins at 7 p.m.
HCMC invites public to booth
Hillsboro Community Medical Center invites the public to stop by its fair booth at the Marion County Fair this week.
HCMC has information available for parents and grandparents with young children helping around the farm. Marsha Setzkorn-Meyer has been working with Brenda Esser from the Marshfield Clinic in Marsh, Wis. The Marshfield Clinic developed the North American Guidelines for Children's Agricultural Tasks.
According to Esser, many unintentional injuries occur because parents and children may mistake physical size and age for ability, may overestimate developmental capabilities, and may underestimate levels of hazard and risks.
"The guidelines were development at the request of farm parents, especially mothers, who wanted some guidance in assigning appropriate jobs to their children," Esser said.
Free farm safety informational handouts will be available at the HCMC booth. The handouts topics include guidelines for when it is appropriate to use self-propelled equipment, farm work with an ATV, using a front-end loader, leading and grooming animals, driving a farm tractor, working with large animals, and other farm chores.
