County fair offers entertainment all week

    The Washington County Fair is less than a week away. The fair begins Sunday and lasts to Friday. Fair-goers will notice a few new buildings on the southwest section of the fairgrounds. The fairgrounds sports a multi-species barn, show ring and bathroom. Four-H Youth Coordinator Kati Peiffer said the multi-species building will house an assortment of animals. Peiffer said more than a year?s worth of fundraising went into the multi-species barn.

    ?We had to raise close to $52,000,? said Peiffer. ?We received a grant from the Riverboat Foundation for $28,955, and we received a donation from the Betterment Foundation. Lots of in-kind donations were made on the building. We held a raffle last year, so the money from the raffle went toward the barn. We also had a pancake breakfast and silent auction.?

    Goats are one of the kinds of animals that will make the multi-species building their home. Peiffer remarked that goats are an ever more popular animal at the fair.    

    ?Our goat numbers have increased in the last 3-4 years,? she said. ?It?s a good project for kids to get into, and it?s inexpensive. Our goat numbers have expanded throughout Washington County and probably throughout the state, too. I think goats are popular because they are smaller animals for kids to handle.?

    The new show ring, also known as the hoop building, will feature the goat show, pet show and dairy show. Peiffer said that the new ring was built so that multiple show events could run simultaneously.

     ?We?ve had some of our shows run until 10 p.m.,? said Peiffer. ?This will allow the shows to be done by 7 p.m. so the families can enjoy evening entertainment and just relax. In the past, there was just one ring and everything was piled on top of each other. Now we have more space and more breathing room.? 

    Just east of the new show ring is the new bathroom. Peiffer said that an old bathroom was recently torn down, and that the fair relied heavily on port-o-potties. She said the fair board wanted to get away from the mobile bathrooms. The new bathroom also has a shower stall.

For the full story, see the July 13 edition of The Washington Evening Journal