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Last week's mild, mostly sunny weather helped bring out the crowds to the Kosciusko County 4-H & Community Fair.
While organizers have no specific numbers, they said today that fair attendance was at least comparable to last year, one of the best fair years so far.
Wristbands were given out as attendees paid the admission fee, and fair officials said they ran out of wristbands almost every night after Wednesday.
A brief thunderstorm Tuesday night sent fairgoers scurrying for cover and brought rides to a halt. But the rest of the week was mild and warm. Temperatures didn't begin to climb until Friday and Saturday, when most of the 4-H animals were already gone.
Friday's 4-H auction moved at almost a record pace and brought in some impressive numbers.
Brian Deatsman, who showed the grand champion steer, and who came back from a national competition in Louisville for the auction, sold his 1,225-pound steer for $4 per pound to a group of businesses and families called "Friends of Brian Deatsman."
Other grand champions and their sale prices were David Lash, grand champion barrow, $10.50 per pound for 246 pounds; David Summe, grand champion rabbit meat pen, $325; Brandon Harmon, grand champion milking goat, $350; Aron Leininger, grand champion wether, $650; Jay Timmons, grand champion dairy calf feeder steer, $2 per pound for 419 pounds; Derrick Deardorff, grand champion Holstein, $1,350; Gretel Peters, grand champion Brown Swiss, $275; Gared Peters, grand champion Grade Holstein, $300; Jenny Ellison, grand champion fryer, $300; and Shelly Garland, grand champion market lamb, $7 per pound for 120 pounds.
The 4-H king and queen, Travis Hickman and Deb Burch, auctioned off kisses - the king's for $300 and the queen's for $150. Hickman donated the proceeds from his kiss to the Beef Barn to help pay for a new concrete floor. Burch donated her proceeds to the Kosciusko County Junior Leaders to help pay for the construction of the deck on the Junior Leaders' soft drink stand.
