Hardin County Fair 2012: Setup Monday (Labor Day Indeed)

For many of us, the Hardin County Fair really begins on Monday. This is the day before the fair officially opens and everyone is bringing in their projects and contest materials. Vendors are setting up and booths are being put together. Considering several of the vendors are open and serving it’s like an extra day all rolled into the rest of the week.

For my part, I wasn’t out there so much this year. In years past I would go out early to either take out an animal (when I was younger) or help set up a couple of booths. It usually began with helping my Dad set up the booth for his sportsman’s club, Rushcreek. They have a booth in the Wildlife Clubs tent which showcases their club and activities, especially the hunter safety courses which are always in demand each year.

Boss man and John Siemon getting the kinks worked out of the system.

Later, I’ll help set up the booth for my radio station, WKTN. Whereas in years past I would be roped into actually setting up the booth and equipment, this year I was at the studio downtown. There were some technical issues of course (there always are) but we were able to get things going, and we’ll be there all week long in the Merchants Building.

As the afternoon rolled on and I finally made it out to the fairgrounds, I met up with the rest of the family and we entered our projects this year. I had two photos that I took which I’ll display at the end of the week. My brother and sister entered a basket each that they made and my sister also entered a cross stich pattern she made. Most of these will be judged this week so it should be interesting.

Taken from 2008, my brother wasn't here on Monday this year, though he'll be in by Saturday.

Finally, on Monday the whole family takes its shift in the Hardin County Lamb Producers Barn where we serve lamb products throughout the week. My family has a long history with raising lambs dating back as far as I can remember so we help out wherever we can each year.

Overall, it seemed like the crowd was down a bit, and we all figured it was because many of the vendors came in early over the weekend to set up, which means they weren’t around today, but there were still a lot of people out and about. Ran into some friends and I believe will still run into many more before the week is out.

Stay tuned.