There is always a certain excitement in the air during Fair Week. It’s really one of the last large group activities that encompasses all ages, from the very young, to the very old. It’s a week of thrills, music, entertainment, competition, once-a-year-only food (think funnel cakes, mini doughnuts and gyros!), friends and family.
For a select group of young people, Fair Week, and the State Fair later in the summer, represent a culmination of a year’s worth of hard work. The kids who show livestock are really in their glory. And they should be.
I am a “townie.” Granted, I’ve spent a bit of time on farms, but I can’t tell you what it’s like to milk dairy cows twice a day, 365 days/year. I can’t tell you what it’s like to practice gaiting a horse until it “clicks” between the horse and rider. I can’t tell you about the work, the dedication and the discipline it must take to enter a large animal in the county fair. To move it. Feed it. Clean it up. And show it before a judge and a building full of people.
So it was with great respect when I photographed this senior showing not one, but two, cows at the same time. Entered in the Cow/Calf class, Brady M. did a great job of presenting his animals. Brady and his duo won twice that day, and they weren’t done yet.
As his mom said, “This is his thing.” After seeing the ease with which he maneuvered that huge animal from barn to barn on that sweltering day, I knew she was right. Good luck, exhibitors, with the rest of the fair!