Florida Fair News
The DeSoto County Fair By Lisa Hinton
The DeSoto County Fair was held January 16 – 25th in
Arcadia, Florida. I had the opportunity to visit the Fair on Saturday, January 17th and found myself amidst the hub- bub of excitement as it was the day all the youth livestock exhibitors checked in their animals. The youth exhibitors were having their exhibitor meeting and all the parents, leaders, and Fair volunteers were around to help out with whatever needed doing.
Left to right: Secretary Christine Walker, Board Chairman, Steve Briscoe; Manager, Linda Dowling, VP Dale Peeler and accounting secretary Janice Holloway
Columbia County Fair The Fair opened on a beautiful day which coincidentally
was Halloween. We were up against Halloween Parties, Trick or Treating and a local high school football game which cut into our typical attendance. Overall we had a total attendance of just over 30,000 guests over the 9 days of the Fair. Our entertainment consisted of the every pop- ular Ron Diamond with both his magic and hypnosis shows, the John Deere Tractor Pull for the children, and the Sweeney Family Band. Our local convenience store S & S sponsored one day at
the fair which is always a big hit. We had a canned food drive with a discount given on admission with donation of canned items. The Kiwanis Club hosted children to a spe- cial day at the fair on Tuesday. These children look for- ward to the special treatment they receive to have the rides and fairgrounds just to themselves. Several vendors opened to provide lunch and fair specialties for them dur- ing their visit. The Livestock Barns
were full to capacity with steers, beef and dairy heifers, goats and swine. As always the community sup- ported the youth steer and swine sale secur- ing that every child received more than market price for their animals. Special thanks is extended to the businesses and individuals who spon- sor belt buckles as awards to our champi- on exhibitors.
This is the first time I have ever visited the DeSoto County Fair and I was so impressed with eve- ryone I met and with the great layout of their livestock barn. Michael Martin, President and Kim Phillips, Board Member (at left)
greeted me enthusiastically and took time out of their busy schedule to visit. Then Tim Martin, (right) the Barn Superintendent gave me a guided tour of the barns. They have really “dressed up” the livestock barns with great educational exhibits throughout the area. How impressive! Thanks DeSoto County Fair
for your gracious hospitality during my visit!
Amanda Mosley and John Court with the FDACS.
Kristie Popa, DeSoto County
4-H Coordinator and Dave Williams, DeSoto County Fair Director, were busy coordi- nating the 4-H events.
Above—Randy and Wanda Jones with Lisa Hinton during the Columbia County Fair.
Rip Stalvey was at the DeSoto County Fair to judge the youth poultry entries
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