Full family night of local athletes

The annual lineup of athletic events held each year at the Clinton County Fair has long been my favorite single event of the summer community gathering and this year was certainly not an exception.

Of course there were a few lineup changes – the most notable being the change of nights to Monday instead of the longtime Tuesday night slot, but it worked and apparently surprisingly well.

With one of the largest crowds on hand throughout the fairgrounds campus this past Monday – some fair organizers even ventured to guess that perhaps it had been by far the best attended Monday night at the Clinton County Fair that had ever been witnessed.

A full ring of participants of all ages getting involved in and enjoying foot races, sack races, egg tossing, lawn mower driving fun, tug of war competitions and of course a little fun with water – what fair would be complete without letting the kids get involved in the water and mud before sending them home with Mom and Dad in the new car.

Races were won and races were lost and there were a few skinned knees and scraped elbows, but for the most part – there were smiles and plenty of laughter all around, inside the ring amongst the participants as well as outside of the ring where the spectators were sitting.

First prize in each event is a whopping $5 bill and you can tell by the look on the face of the winner, especially the younger winners, that the purse amount is aplenty. Of course there is the bragging rights issue as well.

Down over the hill on the pulling track, a huge crowd watched and competed in the archery event that was yet another feature that allowed competition between a broad age range of shooters in what has become one of the nation’s most popular competitive events.

The Family Night lineup brings our community together and showcases a night of fun filled events that lets everyone get in on some competition regardless of age, gender or even true athletic ability.

The organizers and fair board members are to be commended on a truly successful Family Night lineup again – and for doing pretty much what amounts to a thankless job each year in their hard work and efforts to bring something to Clinton County for everyone to enjoy.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Monday night kickoff event to this year’s Clinton County Fair – I know I did, and I hope everyone gets the chance to make it out to some of the other events in store throughout the week.

And again – thanks to the Fair Board members for all you do.

See you at the Fair!