Before diving into a summary of the 2023 Crawford County Fair flower show, there was an event that really impacted me. It was the showmen of showmen contest. Oh, my, talk about pressure and sweat, this was definitely all that.
First off, 10 young contestants, who had already won the top award in their respective animal showmanship class, came to the arena. They were required to show nine critters “strutting their stuff,” never their own animal. That would have sent me into a ballistic fit. Not these young ones.
Chicken champs strutted in with horses, alpacas, goats, dairy beef cattle and all the rest. Compare some of the horses and beef cattle to the youth and there is a gigantic advantage for throwing your weight around. They were eyeball to eyeball with llamas, horses and beef cattle.
The goats needed to eat first (my thought) so they would behave. The pigs would not travel clockwise, though prodded, but went every which way including between legs. Frightful. The participants held up so well.
And now for a gentler sport — flower growing and arranging.
“Mythology and Legends” was the overall two-day theme. The first show asked the question “Do you believe?” and had titles like goblins, gnomes, Big Foot and mermaids. The second show posed “Do you know the story?” and offered Phoenix, Medusa, fairies, ogre, cyclops and leprechaun. Toss in “Griffin” and “Zombie” and you have a wild flower show.
Our educational unit shared how the cultures of Egypt, Greece and Rome paid tribute to their gods. These people loved flowers,