Welding, sheep, signs and restrooms: stories from the Washington County Fair

WASHINGTON — The Washington County Fair is in full swing, and with all the activity on the fairgrounds, it’s easy to miss any number of big changes, little victories or unexpected surprises.

Here’s a look at just a few stories unfolding at this year’s Washington County Fair.

Judge notes top-notch sheep show

Max Petzenhauser, a judge of the Washington County Fair Sheep show says its one of the best, out of several he attends each summer.

While Washington County’s commercial farms aren’t widely known for their production of sheep, its 4-H and FFA members certainly are, with several show classes seeing four to five purple ribbons handed out as exhibitors left the ring.

“You really feel comfortable putting them behind a banner,” Petzenhauser said of the sheep he judged Tuesday morning. “When I come to this county, there’s one in every single class that is realistically a contender … the depth of quality at the bottom is higher than you see at the top of a lot of county fairs, which says a lot.”

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Todd Schmitz, one of Washington County’s Sheep Superintendents, said he wasn’t sure why the county — best known across the state and nation for its hog farms — developed such a competitive ovine scene, but said he was proud to see it measure up every year.

“It’s just because of 4-H, people have raised the right sheep, kept them, bred them,” he said. “It’s always been strong here. I was in 4-H, and my uncle before us, and we’ve always had a good fair and everybody … enjoys the competition.”

Traveling performers must maintain equipment

The High Flying Pages are a returning entertainment act to the fair’s lineup, featuring death-defying stunts on motorcycles and moving trapeze sets.

Show Owner Anthony Page said summer was a slower season for more stationary circuses, giving the act a chance to hit the road for fairtime appearances.

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But with so much high-rising scaffolding for precisely moving parts, the equipment must be set up extremely carefully. And, Page said, it requires constant maintenance.

“The newer bikes, they’re much heavier than what we had when this thing was originally built,” he said. “It gets repaired — I’m welding it — after every show. We always ask for at least 90 minutes in between each act, but there’s always work to do.”

Mid-Prairie mourns a Booster

With its massive grill and a spot right next to the central show ring, the Mid-Prairie Booster Club booth is a long-running staple at the Washington County fairgrounds, serving steak sandwiches and Kalona Bars.

This year, the booth is just a hair more somber, however, as the club mourns the death of an influential member and frequent volunteer: Dave Tornow. The 57-year-old resident of rural Washington County died unexpectedly on New Year’s Eve in 2024.

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“He’s always been responsible for helping us get our signs set up, and we terribly miss him this year,” said Kim Stout, manger of the club’s concessions stand. “He does all of our feature signs, [for] all of our teams that make it to state … and he’s down here every year getting it all set up.

Stout added that Tornow’s influence extended far beyond the signs he helped make.

“He’s super-duper missed, not only by Mid-Prairie, but by our entire community,” she said. “You’d go to David for anything, whatever we needed done.”

New bathrooms built to impress

When the Fair Board announced in late May that it’d have a new set of bathrooms built on the north side of the fairgrounds before showtime in mid-July, it heard a healthy dose of skepticism from many in the community.

But the new concrete structure neighboring the former school house and train depot was up and running with lights, plumbing, water and fans as exhibitors, family members and guests streamed onto the fairgrounds this week. It also helped that an existing waterline already ran nearby the site.

Kevin “Hooty” Hora, a member of the fair board, said the concrete building totaled around $180,000, roughly three quarters of which was funded by grants. It was built quickly thanks to help from local businesses, one of which is owned by a board member.

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“Between some of us fair board members putting our heads together, we kind of came up with this design,” said Hora. “I want to tell you we got about 75% of it paid for in grants, or pretty close to that … it seemed like everybody that we talked to said, ‘Oh gosh, that’d be a great idea!’”

Organizers said they were quite pleased with the new structure, situated in the same spot as the former only restroom on the fairgrounds, which was torn down several years ago.

The building makes a solid alternative to portable restrooms previously placed on the concrete around the fairgrounds, and is more accessible to fairgoers with mobility aids, who were previously restricted to a bathroom in the basement of Dallmeyer Hall, far from the action going on throughout the week.

“Everyone we’ve talked to at the fair says it’s a big improvement,” Hora said.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com