Fair cancellation could be big loss to 4H, FFA students
Courtesy of Nikki Coffield
Nikki Coffield of Hickory shows a market hog at the Washington County Fair.
Nikki Coffield of Hickory shows a market hog at the Washington County Fair.
This year would have been Nikki Coffield’s last year to show market hogs at the Washington County Fair.
The Hickory resident has been involved in Future Farmers of America for seven years, and showing at the fair for the past five.
“You don’t really think about the last time you’ll zip up your jacket or step in the show ring,” she said. “You have so much in mind for how you’re going to spend those last moments.”
If the fair is canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Coffield’s last time to show will have already come and gone.
“What if I’ll never get to do it again?” she said. “It’s really starting to sink in. Did I get everything that I wanted out of this experience? Did I do enough the year before to make it OK that I’m not getting that full closure this year that I was expecting?”
The Washington County Fair, scheduled for Aug. 15 to 22, hasn’t been canceled yet, but the board meets June 4 to discuss what options it has moving forward. Wayne Hunnell, a director and secretary of the Washington County Fair Board, said part of that discussion will include the possibility of “an abbreviated fair” to include the market livestock shows and sales.
“When you look at the data we spend with all the shows, it is a big piece of the fair – there’s no doubt,” Hunnell said.
He said the board will need to make a decision by mid-June, as it would need to allow children time to register animals and projects.
“We’re getting to the point of, if we are having a fair, there’s a number of things we need to get done,” he said.
Should it still happen, it will be the county’s 222 fair.
“Not only for myself but the entire board and residents of Washington County, if we’re not going to do a fair, it would be a difficult pill to swallow,” he said. “That’s why we’re looking at other alternatives.”
He said one issue is that 4-H and FFA groups are not allowed to meet or have virtual shows or sales. They may consider having the shows under a different name, like a junior livestock sale.
Lisa Bioni of Claysville is a 4-H and FFA leader, who said for her students, the fair is their vacation each year.
“They can’t leave for a week on vacation because their animals need taken care of day in and day out,” she said. “They’re actually missing out on their vacation.”
Bioni said the students invest time and money into their animals, with purchasing feed and trips to the vet.
“Hopefully they can sell their animals, even if it’s just by word of mouth,” she said.
The idea of not having a fair, especially such a longstanding tradition, is a strange feeling for Coffield.
“I grew up going to the fair every year and seeing all the animals,” she said. “I never expected for a pandemic to occur in my last year.”