Published on: Thursday, August 19, 2010

By Nick Coletta

The Montgomery County Agricultural Fair has been educating the community for 62 years, helping visitors acquire an appreciation and understanding of agriculture, said the fair’s executive director, Marty Svrcek.

According to Svrcek, the fair was initially designed for members of the farming community to exhibit their prize livestock, garden and home-economics projects, but it quickly grew into an educational event. The fair takes aim at educating the children of the community to secure growth in future generations, said the fair’s website.

This year’s fair reaches out to the children through its “Barnyard Boogie” theme. “We have a ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ contest where children have the chance to learn barnyard dance moves, followed by a dance contest where they can show off their new moves,” Svrcek said.

Strolling through the fairgrounds, families can browse through the live animal exhibits, win prizes as they try their luck at the gaming vendors, daringly hop on the roller coaster, milk a cow at the milking center, carve a masterpiece out of a two-pound block of cheddar in the cheese-carving contest and wrap up their time at the fair by grabbing a bite to eat at one of the many food vendors.

One of the fair’s prized attractions is the live births of calves that take place throughout the nine-day event. Svrcek said a large crowd came to watch the birth of a baby calf at the fairgrounds Monday.

The fair also has a wide variety of attractions for their nighttime crowd. The “Battle of the Beast” rodeo got the fair jumping as members from the International Bull Rider association competed on some of the toughest bulls in the world of rodeo, according to the fair’s website. Throughout the week, the fair also hosts a tractor pull, demolition derby and monster truck rally in the evening. Additionally, the fair screens different movie every night during “Family Night at the Moo-vies.”

Two major factors affecting this year’s fair are the economy and the weather, according to Svrcek.

“The economy hasn’t seemed to affect us as much as the bad weather,” Svrcek said. Bad weather aside, Svrcek said that the fair has made some changes this year to accommodate today’s economic struggles.

“This year, we have a brand new concept where children 11 and under get in for free, and on our senior citizen day, we allow anyone 62 years or older in for free,” Svrcek said.

According to the website, the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair continues to grow as a vital part of the Montgomery County business community, promoting agricultural issues and acting as an agriculture educator for Montgomery County and the surrounding areas.