Washington Summer Classic kicks off with Ag Day

Tractors, sprayers and various farm equipment lined the square Thursday night as community members came out to celebrate the first of the four-day-long Summer Classic.

The Ag Day theme on Thursday provided a variety of activities and food from local producers for people to try. Alisha Davis, event coordinator with the Washington Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the four-day event, said kicking off the weekend with Ag Day is fitting for Washington.

'Ag is so big in this community. It's everywhere you look,” she said. 'I think it's fun for the kids to see what their parents are doing and where they're working and one day they might be little future farmers.”

She said by having equipment out for kids to see and climb into, she hopes it will both inspire and give them a new appreciation for the industry.

I just want them to take away where our food and everything comes from and why it's so important, so I think the biggest thing I want them to take away is that farming is fun,” she said.

Leah Marek, Washington County Pork Queen, helped serve at the Pork Producers tent. Having grown up in the ag industry, being able to promote it is important to her.

'I think it's important to get out in our community and let people know that we're still here. Pork Producers has been around for a long time,” she said. 'I think it is important that it was grown here in town. It gives farmers more recognition as well.”

Marek said having an entire day devoted to ag shows a great deal of community support for farmers, but also gives farmers a chance to show how they support the community.

'It's great to see that the hard work that these people put into it gets acknowledged every year and that so many people come out to be involved with what our county mainly does,” she said.

The Washington County Corn and Soybean Growers Association sponsored the Biofuel Mobile Education Center- a trailer designed to show consumers the many uses of corn and soybean products. President Lance Bell said he enjoyed participating in ag day because it gave him a chance to educate the public on what farmers do every day.

'A community like this has a lot of agriculture around it and a lot of people don't necessarily know what this is,” he said. 'We're just trying to keep them exposed to it.”

Mike Finarty, an educator and driver with the Biofuel Mobile Education Center, said he enjoys traveling and talking with consumers about the different uses for the products because he feels people are removed from agriculture and do not understand the relationship between farmer and consumer.

He said Washington having its own day dedicated to the industry is a special event because it's rare to see a community celebrate the ag industry with such a grand event.

'A lot of the counties don't have what Washington County has, and it shows,” he said. 'You have better towns for it, you have better communities for it because there's more money coming into the economy.”

Kerri Bell, secretary of the Washington County Corn and Soybean Growers Association, said the fact that the day celebrates all parts of the ag industry, livestock included, is what makes the community so strong.

'We all work together because we're all in this together,” she said. 'We kind of take for granted because we think everybody knows agriculture, so this is our way to give back and educate those that aren't familiar with it.”