Residents anxiously await the county fair

    The Washington County Fair will start within a matter of days and local residents can hardly wait to get into the fairgrounds. Local folks aren?t the only people interested in the livestock judging and evening entertainment. Libby McFadzean is from Scotland and is here visiting a friend. McFadzean has gone to the Washington County Fair in the past and may go again this year.

    ?I come here every summer for a couple of weeks,? said McFadzean. ?This is my 11th visit. The time I was at the fair, which was a few years ago, it was very hot, and they were hosing down the animals.?

    McFadzean said that in those 11 visits to the United States she has come to know and enjoy rural customs and traditions. She said she likes country and bluegrass music, and that she has gone to a rodeo.  

    ?We don?t have rodeos in Scotland,? said McFadzean. ?That?s a Western thing. I?ve been to a rodeo in Kalona. It was interesting.?

    McFadzean said she likes to see fowl such as hens and ducks. McFadzean grew up on a farm in Scotland and married a farmer, so she knows barnyard animals very well. She said Scots have a festival similar to a county fair, except they refer to it as an ?agricultural show.?

    ?There?s a big show outside Edinburgh (the capital city),? said McFadzean. ?That sort of thing is very popular in Scotland. The whole family would go to the show.?

    The biggest difference between a county fair here and an agricultural show in Scotland is the weather, commented McFadzean.

    ?In August, you wouldn?t know what the weather would be like,? she said. ?It could be a hot day, which would be mid-20s Celsius (high 70s Fahrenheit). Eighty degrees Fahrenheit would be very hot for us. We?d be glad if it was sunny. We?d be glad if it was weather where you wouldn?t have to wear your boots, which we call wellies, after Wellington boots.?

    Chad Fountain moved to Washington a few years ago and has yet to attend the county fair.

    ?I?ve heard a lot of good things about the demolition derby and the talent show,? he said.

    Fountain has a dog named ?Brittney? which his friends tell him should be entered in the dog show at the fair.

    ?The problem with her is that she?s so hairy. I?ve brushed her twice this morning and you can?t even tell,? said Fountain. ?The dog show would be my favorite event. Even if we?re not in it, it will be the one thing I make sure I get to, because I?m a dog-lover.?

    Fountain grew up in Mt. Pleasant, and said that his father worked at the Henry County Fair.

    ?My parents always worked at that stuff,? said Fountain. ?They always worked at the Old Threshers Reunion and at church tents.?

    Marcus Fedler is responsible for supplying the Washington County Fair with its trophies and plaques. Fedler supplies the trophies for the fair queen, the demolition derby, the Motocross race and the myriad livestock judging competitions. 

For more, see our July 16 print edition.