Leader Photo by Tim Ryan Brooke Breitrick, of the Tilleda Timberwolves, and Morgan Weinig, of Belle Plaine 4-H, have their rabbits inspected by judge Dennis Rohloff during the Junior Rabbits Show at the Shawano County Fair on Friday.
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski Chance Schultz rides on the Sizzler carnival ride with Shileena Jeske and Emma Jeske, 4, all of Shawano, on Friday night. The midway had long lines for most of the rides, but many found it worth the wait for the fast moving rides.
Livestock auction supports 4-H program
Hundreds of spectators, interested buyers and 4-H families packed the coliseum at the Shawano County Fair on Friday night for the annual market auction of beef, swine and sheep.
The fast-moving, raucous event was marked by spirited bidding on nearly 130 animals, accompanied by frequent cheers and applause, especially when bidding standoffs heightened the drama.
Young members representing 20 4-H clubs from all over the county displayed their prized animals for scores of bidders.
For many who were buying, the animals were secondary to the financial contribution they were making. A number of buyers immediately donated the animals back to rebid and be sold a second time.
The Shawano County Agricultural Society gets 2 percent sales commission to help keep the fairgrounds up, and the 4-H livestock committee takes 1.5 percent for the expenses of running the auction.
The auction helps subsidize a livestock scholarship fund that enables kids to help pay for college.
Some of Friday’s most vociferous bidding went to 4-H members presenting this year’s grand champion animals, including the following:
• A 1,384-pound beef cow entered by Elizabeth Esch of the Waukechon Wildcats 4-H.
• A 1,620-pound dairy cow entered by Ben Brown of the Angelica 4-H.
• A 262-pound swine entered by Halley Zernicke of Landstad 4-H.
• 138-pound sheep entered by Samantha Bohm of Brener Youthful Workers 4-H.
The auction was conducted once again this year by Yoap and Yoap, of Coleman.
Presidential straw poll preferences
Republican and Democratic booths at the Shawano County Fair have been taking a straw poll of voter preferences for their party’s nominee going into next year’s presidential election and, while it’s still too early to call, Gov. Scott Walker and Bernie Sanders are the clear favorites so far.
The Republican Party of Shawano County booth tallied votes on Thursday night, and Friday’s numbers weren’t yet available, but Walker had a slight lead over GOP challengers Donald Trump and Ben Carson. They were the only three of the Republican candidates to get double-digit vote tallies.
On the Democratic side, the results as of 3 p.m. Friday had Bernie Sanders with 20 votes, well ahead of his nearest rival, presumed front-runner Hillary Clinton with eight votes.
The voice of the fair
If you’ve gone to the Shawano County Fair, you’ve heard the voice of Mary Marohl.
She’s the woman who makes sporadic announcements throughout the day about the food, events and activities on tap. She also occasionally makes special announcements, like reading the license plates of vehicles that need to be moved, or letting the beer suppliers know they need to report to one of the food stands with fresh supplies.
Marohl used to listen to those announcements from when she was a child. They could be heard outside the store that her parents owned.
Eventually she went to work in the fair ticket office, back when Charlie O’Brien was secretary of the fair.
One day he let her make some announcements for fun, she said.
The rest is history.
Marohl said she loves doing the announcements. But everything she says is carefully written down.
“If I have to ad-lib, I get tongue-tied,” she said.
FAIR NUMBERS
60
The number of cars registered for the Enduro event as of an hour before race time.
80
The number of participants who took part in the fair’s first 5K on Thursday.
8-10
The number of piglets in a sow’s litter. (You can learn a lot at the fair.)
773
Number of cream puffs sold by Wolf River Harmony as of 8 p.m. Friday
