Iowa State Fair briefs

DES MOINES — Kevin Emge, of Grinnell, and Ty Stephany, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, tied for second place in the adult division of the Iowa State Fair piano contest Aug. 12.

Jason McNeely of Knoxville won first place.

The contest was part of "Rural Americana Olde Tyme Competitions" in Farm Bureau Pioneer Hall. A first prize of $5 and ribbons were awarded tin each class.

Judges choose champion lambs

DES MOINES — Judges viewed more than 300 animals from 185 exhibitors competing for top honors in the FFA market lamb show Aug. 8 at the Iowa State Fair.

Ella Greiner, of Keota FFA, showed the reserve champion light weight market wether, the champion market ewe and the champion medium weight market ewe.

Ellie Karr, of Newhall, with Benton FFA, showed the reserve champion market ewe and reserve champion medium weight market ewe.

Kiley Langley of the Wilton FFA, won Champion Market Lamb and Riley Walker, of Webster City FFA, claimed Reserve Champion Market Lamb.

Residents compete in horseshoes

DES MOINES — Participants from around the state competed in the Iowa State Region Team Championship division of the Horseshoe Pitching Tournament Aug. 9 at the Iowa State Fair.

Central Iowa Women took first place. The team consisted of Deb Davis, of Ankeny; Kelly Turbett, of Tama; Kristy Klejch, of Creston; Sheryl Mason, of Grinnell; and Shirley Sprague, of Adel.

Marengo girl claims sheep awards

DES MOINES — Myla Frimml, with Marengo FFA, was awarded Champion Hampshire Ram during the Iowa State Fair FFA breeding sheep show Aug. 9.

Marshall Meyer, of Williamsburg FFA, showed the reserve Dorset ewe.

Two hundred and seventy-three sheep were shown by FFA exhibitors.

Marengo FFA finished eighth in chapter awards.

Farm art wins ribbons

DES MOINES — Iowa crafters put a spin on corn and soybean plants to create award-winning art in the Corn Creations and Soybean Creations divisions of the Farm Crops contest at the Iowa State Fair.

Clara Daniels, of Ladora, took second place in the youth division in natural, dyed or painted corn creations.

The entries were judged for appearance, originality, use of product and degree of difficulty.

Grinnell girl makes talent semifinals

DES MOINES — Maggie Kaup, 17, of Grinnell, advanced to the semifinal round in the senior division of the Bill Riley Iowa State Fair Talent Search.

Kaup performed a vocal solo. Semifinal competition began Aug. 15.

State Fair honors wines

DES MOINES — Winemakers from across the state competed for top honors in the Iowa State Fair Oenology — Wine competition at the Iowa State Fair.

Mark Hempe, of Ames, was awarded Best of Show honors in the grape wines division, and Daniel Boddicker, of Vinton, was awarded Best of Show in non-grape wines.

Boddicker also took second place in dry red 31-1; first in fruit and berry dry 32-12, 14; and second in fruit sweet 32-13.

Gary Lillis, of Keystone, placed first in berry sweet 32-15.

Back Forty earns apiary awards

DES MOINES — The apiary competition brought out the sting among competitors when it was judged prior to the start of the 2024 Iowa State Fair.

Back Forty Honey, of Grinnell, took third place in the observation hive category, first place in white comb honey, second in six cut comb in a hard plastic box, first in light amber extracted honey, and first in amber extracted honey.

Back Forty also finished first in the dark amber extracted honey category and in combination chunk and strained honey.

Back Forty took second prize in plastic bears, first prize in block of beeswax, third in photograph of general beekeeping and fifth in photograph of specific subject.

Rachel Vakulich, of Wellman, finished second in window displays. Joanna Vakulich, of Wellman, had a sixth-place award in youth beekeeping photo.

Jonathan Vakulich, of Wellman, took first prize in youth two beeswax candles, and Rachel Cody, of Grinnell, finished second in youth plastic bears.

All exhibitor entries were products of the exhibitor's apiary unless otherwise specified.

Fleeces earn awards in wool show

DES MOINES — Exhibitors took home ribbons for farm flock fleeces and hand spinning fleeces in the Wool Show at the Iowa State Fair.

Kelly Werner, of Grinnell, took first place in 3/8 1/4 blood combing- natural/white and in 50s-58s 3/8 and ¼ blood combing colored.

Werner had the reserve champion farm flock/commercial.

Vinton men win timber sports

DES MOINES — Vinton residents earned awards in Timber Sports competitions Aug. 13 at the Iowa State Fair.

Dakota Rundlett finished first in one man crosscut and second in bow saw behind Dan Newton, of Collins, and ahead of Dave Cox, of Oskaloosa, who finished third.

Landra Reese and Rundlett finished second in two-man crosscut.

Benton County whiskers place at fair

DES MOINES — Dakota Rundlett, of Vinton, took second place in the most-historic category in the Beard Growing contest at the Iowa State Fair.

The contest was part of Rural Americana Olde Tyme Competitions in Farm Bureau Pioneer Hall. A first prize of $5 and ribbons were awarded to each class.

Vinton FFA earns vegetable awards

DES MOINES — Dakota Lopata of the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA won the High Point Exhibitor award, and Evan Lopata of the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA claimed the Reserve High Point Exhibitor Award in the FFA horticulture competition at the Iowa State Fair.

Dakota Lopata also had the champion table vegetable (cabbage), and Evan Lopata the reserve champion (eggplant).

Dakota showed the champion vegetable container display.

Vinton-Shellsburg FFA finished first in chapter awards.

Local columnist places at fair

DES MOINES — J.O. Parker, of Montezuma, a correspondent and columnist for The Hometown Current and other Hometown Media publications, placed third in postcards in the Heritage Exhibits contest at the Iowa State Fair.

Jon Nutting, of Milo finished first. Carissa Starleaf, of Cedar Rapids was third.

The contest is limited to genuine artifacts that are at least 50 years old. Entries are evaluated on their authenticity and condition.