2023 Ross County Fair Book Dedication Chris Kline

The Ross County Agricultural Society would like to congratulate Chris Kline for receiving one of nine Outstanding Fair Supporter Awards for Innovation and Excellence at the annual Ohio Fairs Managers Associations conference in January at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Chris Kline is a lifetime resident of Buckskin Township in Ross County. He was a 10-year 4-H member of the Frogtown Thrifters, showing livestock projects. He credits 4-H for many life skills he uses in both every day and also in his professional career. 4-H developed his leadership skills as well his skills on how to address and treat others. Through High School and other youth related activities, friendships grew apart over the years. However, of the many friendships that have stood the test of time, the strongest and closest were made through 4-H forty years ago.

After starting his own family of 4 children, he reengaged in 4-H. He soon became organizational advisor of the Frogtown Thrifters and grew the club to over 70 members. There are two clubs that exists in Buckskin Township. Both clubs are of the oldest in the county and each surpasses 80 years of history. As the clubs grew, it was becoming more difficult to ensure these kids had buyers at the sale each year.

Nearly all of the Buckskin Township children attend Greenfield school in Highland County. A large percentage of the area kids attended Ross County Fair. He started in the mid 2000’s, trying to bring attention to this fact and bring additional support to the Buckskin Township youth that exhibited livestock at the Ross County Fair.

A month before the fair he’s contacting buyers. He spends hours on the phone. He travels 100’s of miles to local businesses. When the fair begins, he attends each livestock show that a local child may be showing in. On Thursday the sales start. He sits through 3 days of sales, to ensure that each Buckskin Township area child has a buyer for their project. He manages over 70 buyers’ cards and tens of thousands of dollars. Some years there are more children than money, but he’s prepared and purchases the projects himself. Other years there is more money than needed and he will still purchase projects for other children of Ross County outside of Buckskin Township.

Over the years the Greenfield/Buckskin Township area kids have become known as some of the best supported kids at the fair. He started doing this roughly 12 years ago. His first year of being a part of this process they had around $7,500 from 10 to 12 buyers. Last year he had 71 buyers’ cards and over $65,000. He has boughten several Grand and Reserve animals over the years and has been able to go back and collect anywhere from $5,000 to $9700 each time. The Buckskin Township area families and businesses support the local youth, the Ross County Fair and the 4-H program is second to none. He is proud that his now grown children have seen their father become a part of a very special county fair and community through this process and his hope is that they someday give back to a program that was so important to their lives as they grew into adulthood.