click images to view

It doesn’t matter where you go at the Morgan County Fair, people are either eating their favorite food or doing what they love. And that means different things for different age groups.

On Monday night, teens walked and talked while they sipped on lemon shake-ups and hurriedly ate their melting ice cream. They played games and tried their hand at various challenges. A few attempted the Electric Slide dance with entertainer Matt Hicks on the main stage.

Men looked over the tractors, car accessories and decals and stood in line for pork and beef sandwiches and fresh-roasted corn.

Women combed the booths for knick-knacks, plants and T-shirts — and everyone in between grabbed a cool seat in the shade to munch on their elephant ears and colored ice.

The Morgan County Fair Queen, Rachel Hastings of Mooresville, and one of her princesses, Elon Baker, said the ice cream, ribeye sandwiches and roasted corn win their favorite food preferences, hands down.

Others, like Skip Roten of Martinsville, preferred the tacos sold by the Lamda Theta chapter of the Delta Theta Tau sorority. His children, Sam, 11, and Sarah, 8, inhaled the cheesy french fries sold in the Morgan County Sertoma Club tent.

Nail drivin’ fun

What should have been a male pursuit turned out to be a female challenge. John Schoolcraft and his wife, Shannon, ran the nail-driving competition and signed up girls ranging in age from almost 4 to teenagers. A few boys signed up, but most of them spent time razzing the girls.

Schoolcraft, president of the Antique Machinery Association, said this was the first year for nail driving at the county fair — although it’s been done before by the association at its Farmer’s Day Celebration. Schoolcraft said WCBK Radio also had hosted this competition. He said the representative from the Morgan County Fair Board was Richard Hamilton, and the association also got help from Ron Baugh.

“We drive in the nails a little bit for the younger kids so they don’t smash their fingers,” he explained. “It’s a basic speed contest. Participants start when their hammer first hits the nail and end when the nail is flush with the board.”

Schoolcraft said they provide their own hammers, and these are varying weights.

“We let the younger kids use roofing hammers, since they’re lighter. But if people want to use their own hammers, that’s OK,” he added.

David Terrell, boy champion for the 9 and 10-year-olds, finished so quickly, Shannon Schoolcraft could hardly mark down his time. But he barely outdid the 9 and 10-year-old girl champ, Christina McKowen, whose steady hand stayed dead on the nail.

Schoolcraft said they got the idea for the different country competitions at an Amish country fair in northern Indiana.

“We decided to start those at the fair. We have jump rope, pie eating, cherry seed spitting and now the nail driving contests,” he said. “There’s something everyone in the family can do.”

A rabbit is as a rabbit looks

Ditto for the rabbit show in the poultry and rabbit building. Although Monday was pretty hot, still 81 degrees at 8:30 p.m., the barns have a system that mists water over the hot animals stretched out in their cages.

A veteran showman and a novice talked about how they came to love these soft, wiggling creatures with long ears.

This was Alyssa Hale’s seventh year in 4-H. But she still remembers having to “catch a rabbit” in a roundup when she was getting ready to enter third grade. That’s exactly how Jessica Richardson, a second year novice, got her start in rabbit raising. The young teen was grooming a Holland Lop named “Fluffy” for this year’s county fair, and she must have done something right. Jessica won the championship trophy for her division.

Hale, who will also have a pig for sale at the animal auction, won the championship for her senior division. She said keeping the rabbits calm and relaxed is the top priority for showmen.

Darren Cooper, reserve champion in the same age group as Jessica, said that’s because the judges look at every body part on the rabbit to see if it measures up to the standards. His entry was a Mini Lop named “Sugar.”

“They look at its coat, check its body shape, eyes — everything,” Darren said. He added that rabbits don’t perform tricks. Their only requirements are to look cute and wiggle their noses — the same things they do every day.