Washington County Agricultural Fair opens
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
A young Nubian goat owned by Montgomery Farm investigates anything that approaches during the Washington County Fair.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Shelby Powers, 10, of Burgettstown holds one of her Black Breasted Red Phoenix roosters as she checks on her flock.
Haley Felton of Midway dries off her boer goat Daisy with the help of Marcus Subrick of Washington at the Washington County Fair in this photo from 2018.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Tayler Layhue, 11, of Washington gets a pull of 28 feet 3 inches in the pedal power pull at Washington County Fair.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Thea Nakels, 1, of Washington points to a rabbit at Washington County Fair Saturday.
Kim Teichmann came prepared Saturday morning.
“I was on vacation this week, so I spent my whole week baking,” said Teichmann, 56, of Blaine Township.
Teichmann’s were among the winning entries of the baking competition on opening day of the 220th Washington County Agricultural Fair. Held every year at the fairgrounds in Chartiers Township, the event persists even as more and more farmland in the area gives way to exurban housing plans.
“It’s kind of sad to see the farms go, but it’s nice to see the tradition carrying on,” said Teichmann, who with her brother still owns the farm they grew up on.
On Saturday, she won the angel food cake contest with a raspberry-filled lemon confection. She also had entries in the apple pie contest, in which she placed third, and the chocolate cake judging.
“Both of my grandmothers were excellent bakers, and I think it’s in the blood,” said Teichmann, a custodian for McGuffey School District.
“That pays the bills, but this is my passion,” she added.
This year, fair organizers adjusted the lineup to help drive up attendance following a two-year slump, adding Motorcross events and a “mud bog” for the first time in at least 10 years. They also moved the popular Demolition Derby – usually held Saturday – to Tuesday night after the monster truck show.
Wayne Hunnell, the fair’s director and board secretary, said attendance is “obviously very weather dependent.” In a good year, the total for the eight-day run is usually in the range of 75,000 to 80,000.
Hunnell said events outside the organizers’ control seem to have driven ticket sales down for the past two years, depleting about $300,000 in reserves the nonprofit had set aside. In 2016, Hunnell said weather forced officials to cancel four days of events because of weather.
He also said he believed the news of a disastrous ride failure at the Ohio State Fair last year – which killed one person and injured another seven – kept many people away from Washington County’s event. Hunnell theorized parents of young children probably didn’t want to have to tell their kids they couldn’t go on rides, and opted to stay home.
“I think as a result we just had that group not attending,” he said.
Hunnell said he’s hopeful the weather will hold out, but the forecast is spotty. Heavy rain Friday forced cancellation of the tractor pull, which would have taken place the following morning.
The smell of frying oil at various food carts wafted through the midway in the early afternoon, as carnival workers were already hawking different games to passersby.
Farther into the fairgrounds, Shelby Powers, 10, of Burgettstown was outside a dairy barn holding one of the hens she brought for Tuesday’s poultry show.
She said she likes raising chickens because they’re smaller than horses and less prone to sickness than goats.
“I had goats, and they all died within a year,” she said.
It’ll be the third year she’s shown chickens. She and her parents are active in the local 4-H groups Raging Roosters and Animal Antics.
“We started with two three years ago and now we’re up to 26,” said Kim Powers, Shelby’s mother.