Thursday, August 20th, 2015
Fair ban on birds doesn't ruffle the feathers of 4-Her's
By Claire Giesige
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Alex List, Celina, Nathan Robinson, Celina, and Amanda Stachler, Rockford, display their poultry projects at the Mercer County Fair. The Ohio Department of Agriculture in June banned live poultry displays at county fairs to prevent the spread of avian influenza. Junior fair poultry officials came up with alternative projects to allow local youth to participate in the fair.
CELINA - Birds of a feather didn't have a chance to flock together this year at the Mercer County Fair but junior fair poultry contestants made the best of the situation.
In June, the Ohio Department of Agriculture canceled all live bird exhibits at county fairs to protect the state's poultry industry from the avian influenza outbreak.
Junior fair poultry superintendent Arliss Meinerding said the edict was a tough blow. She said she had never seen anything like it in her 20 years with the program.
However, she quickly rallied kids who were already raising and preparing birds for the fair.
"I told them 'yes, we're upset but let's turn a negative into a positive,' " Meinerding said.
She, along with the other poultry superintendent Karen Schmitt and junior fair board poultry members Job Beair, Alex List, Nate Robinson and Amanda Stachler, began planning alternative activities for poultry participants.
"We really felt like we should still have something," List, 16, said. "We weren't going to give up."
The poultry team decided to present educational posters. Each member was assigned a topic, ranging from hatching eggs to showing fowl to the avian flu. The kids then conducted research and presented what they had learned on colorful posters in the poultry barn.
Completed posters were judged on the depth of knowledge they displayed. Sarah Siefring took home the top prize for her poster on "Contributions of Poultry to the Development of Science."
"I wanted kids to think outside the box and I was pleased by the results," Meinerding said. "Other fairs did showmanship with stuffed chickens. To me, that was unprofessional because the whole point of showing the birds is to see how kids interact with their animals."
In addition to the posters, the team created fun activities designed to give members a chance to show their avian aptitude. Among the events were a cooking contest for poultry-based foods, an Avian Bowl (a statewide trivia contest) and a skillathon that had four stations for contestants to show the skills they had learned.
"It was fun this year but it was a lot more difficult," Robinson, 17, said. "At the same time it was a good chance to educate the public."
"We were here setting up for a straight week before it started," List added. "Everything was new to us. We had first years asking us questions and we didn't have the answers."
Stachler, 18, is in her fourth year of showing poultry.
"I was a little depressed when I heard that we wouldn't be showing birds this year. This is my last year," she said.
Stachler also had a unique challenge to overcome with her research project.
"I was supposed to make a chicken skeleton but my dog ate it," she said, shrugging. Her poster ended up on display without the accompanying skeleton.
Meinerding approved market birds on home visits, during which she avoided contact with the birds to comply with avian flu prevention guidelines. Participants in those categories may still take part in a public auction of the carcasses with the CALL food pantry in Celina receiving unclaimed meat.
List, Robinson and Stachler all voiced their gratitude for Meinerding and Schmitt, without whom they said this year wouldn't have been possible.
"A lot of fairs gave up but we went the distance," Robinson said. "And we'll be back next year."
Fair schedule:
Today
• 6:30 p.m. - kids' craft
• 7 p.m. - Tough Trucks and Mule Rule races
• 7:30 p.m. - Power Wheel Derby
• 8 p.m. - DJ Wicked Sound
Friday
• 9 a.m.-noon - barns and junior fair building cleanup
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
Members of the Marion Local High School marching band participate in Wednesday's band show at the Mercer County Fair. Several other high schools participated in the in the show. This year's fair concludes tonight.
