As the sun set on the Mecosta County Free Fair, the stands were packed for the highlight of the week: the 2023 demolition derby. The fans would not leave disappointed, with a night full of hard racing, a Big Rapids native winning a heat race, three cars ending up on top of the guardrail, and a mini-van duel between a demolition derby winner and a rookie in her first competition to close out the night.
Big Rapids fans got to their feet as local Nate Cooley found victory in the sixth heat in his redwhite-and blue colored 1776 car sponsored by Ready Roll Off, Mr. C’s Party Store, Meiners Auto Body, best Lawn and Hatchews. He would
also set the fastest time on the night.
“I didn’t really have a plan other than to put on a show for my family and friends who were coming out to support me. All my sponsors were out here to support me, so I just wanted to go out and do something sweet.”
Mike Till took the A-Main in the racing portion in his green and purple 11T car.
“That was tricky because I have never driven this track before, and that big hill was kind of iffy. Took me a bit to get the hang of it.” Till said. “Then, going into the finals I knew there would be some tough cars, luckily, I didn’t break anything and got out front. It was definitely interesting; I think that’s probably one of my favorite tracks now.”
Matt Taylor took home wins in the modified
division feature in his number 60 car. He would give away a couple of trophies to the crowd after his win.
“That was my first time giving away a couple trophies. We got a lot at home and it’s always nice to make fans happy.” Taylor said.
The night ended with a duel to remember in the demolition derby. 12 cars entered; two mini vans were all that were left standing. For five minutes, it was a duel between Adam Peterson, a multiple time demolition derby winner, and Trisha Wabanimkee, the only female in the competition and in her first ever demolition derby competition.
The duo mangled their mini vans, with Peterson coming out on top but Wabanimkee earning some of the largest cheers of the night as she
Power Wheels
Easton Roberts
Trufant
Youth
wheeled the deformed piece of metal around the track until a hit finally jostled the key out of the ignition.
“I was like ‘I’ve got this.’ I’m from Trufant and another Trufant guy was going against me so I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’” Wabanimkee said excitedly after she got out of the car. “I didn’t know if I could keep going ‘cause I was just flying out of my seat and then all sudden my car stopped I was like ‘I can’t find my keys!’ I was ready to keep going!”
There were three crashes on the night that saw a car end up on top of the guardrail. The largest of which was in the modified heat race, where the 3-5-10 of Josh Darling all but cleared the guardrail after getting pinched into the wall of the first corner.
Sam Battle Paris
Powder Puff
Dawn Jackson
Howard City
Stock Heat One
Scott Wright
McBain
Stock Heat Two
Jarad Post
Kent City
Stock Heat Three
Marcus Thompson
Sand Lake
Stock Heat Four
Matt Taylor
Greenville
Stock Heat Five
Mike Till
Fennville
Stock Heat Six
Nate Cooley
Big Rapids
Stock Heat Seven
Hans VanderWerff
Newaygo
Modified Heat One
Alex Fuller
Zeeland
Modified Heat Two
Matt Taylor
Greenville
A Main Mike Till
Fennville
B Main Aaron Thompson
Newaygo
C Main Derrick Wyatt Stanton
Modified A Main
Matt Taylor
Greenville
Stock Demo Derby
Adam Peterson
Grant
It was a perfect night at the Mecosta Free Fair, especially if you ask Daniel Miller.
The Big Rapids native took home the win at the Super Kicker Rodeo on Thursday night as the only rider to go the full eight seconds in the Bull Riding competition.
Miller earned the win on his home turf, bringing spectators who packed the grandstands at the fair to their feet.
“Man, it was just a great little bull. Rode around right in my hands, it was a nice confidence builder.”
Miller said.
Miller not only went eight seconds, but he was able to hold on for nearly 15 seconds, drawing a score of 72 from the judges.
“Before I get on my bull I always say in my head ‘Go 20 seconds.’ If you can go 20 seconds you have a way better chance at making it to eight, so I have to try for 20 seconds in my head,” Miller said. “I always ride them past the whistle; if you start looking down before then you might end up having your bull ruin your run.”
Miller was also one of the few who went without a helmet, only using a cowboy hat for his ride. This was part of a strategy to help last longer on the bull.
“I started riding without a helmet about four months ago because I had some bad habits with the helmet,” Miller said.
“Not sitting upright on my bull, so I started going without my helmet and once you
kiss your face with the bulls horns a couple of times you’ll learn to sit up.”
For the rest of the field, the bulls ended up winning. No one else was able to notch a score.
Ellia Ouwinga won the girls barrel racing with a time of 13.520, beating a field of 20 riders in the arena. Sherri Houstra took second with a time of 13.672 and Jodi Loosenort took third (13.744).
Other events on the night at the rodeo included mutton busting, a girl’s shoe scramble, a boy’s shoe scramble, and a mom’s shoe scramble, with the winner taking home $130.
“To be able to put on a show for my hometown like that, it’s a blessing,” Miller said.
By Brendan Sanders Staff writer
The smell of burning diesel fuel was heavy on Friday night as the Mecosta Free Fair featured the return of the West Michigan Truck and Tractor Pulling competition.
Eleven different pulling categories battled on the 400-foot dragway as the West Michigan Tractor Pulling Competition made its return to the Mecosta County Free Fair after getting rained out last year. Over 50
competitors pulled, ranging from tractors, trucks and semis.
Big Rapids native Eric Voelker was one of the many competitors, taking second in the Light Limited Super Stock Tractors division with a pull of 289.73 feet.
“Hometown hook for me, misjudged the track a little bit, should’ve ran a different gear. It’s all kind of hindsight 20/20 but it was a good crowd, a good turnout. Couldn’t have asked for a better night,” Voelker said. Driving a modified small block John Deere tractor,
Voelker said his engine could put out over 1400 horsepower.
“The biggest thing is the weight setup so your balance is good going down the track,” he said. “You don’t want to be nose heavy, you don’t want to have too much on the back so it stands up the whole time. You want to have good balance, you want to have a good takeoff, good wheel slippage. Then going down the track you want to have good bite on it and not get too bouncy.”
Other highlights on
the night included the longest run of the night, which came in the 4.1 Semi Trucks category by Tim Kamps in Inventory Liquidation. Kamps had a run of 395.21 feet. Another highlight came in the 2 Hot 2 Farm Tractor Category, where Adam Shade edged out Del Vandenbosch by 0.2 feet to win the category with a run of 313.80. The night also featured two runs by “The Green Ghost” that saw the truck get up on its back wheels and haul its sled 400 feet to the end of the track.
Street Trucks
William Henke2002 Chevy 304.48 feet
Modified Gas Trucks
Ron Groh - 1979
Ford “Papa’s Aggressive Behavior”
325.83 feet
LLSS Tractors
Robert IsenfoffDirt Grinda
325.12 feet
Field Farm Tractors
Ron BrinkanSnoopy IH 1066
323.12 feet
Pro Street Trucks
Gerry Pontz - Chevy 2500
364.23 feet
2 Hot 2 Farm Tractors
Adam Shade - IH 856
313.80 feet
3.0 Diesel Trucks
Christian KoningBarn Find 311.58 feet
Mixed Open Tractors
Gean Lamers - Pride of America 1066 296.06 feet
Street Semi Trucks
Dylan CareyKenworth T800 312.21 feet
Altered Semi Trucks
John Moog 372.27 feet
4.1 Semi Trucks
Tim Kamps - Inventory Liquidation 395.21 feet
By Kaia Zimmerman Staff writer
Mecosta County Fair continued its events with a Swine Show on Tuesday which featured showmen ages six through 18. Four classes competed in the overall competition including senior, intermediate, junior and beginner. Each class had an overall winner.
For the senior class, show judge Bruce Beery said the finalists in the class showed good eye
contact and had good showmanship.
The intermediate class was also competitive, according to Beery. The judge put many obstacles for the class including a chair the contestants had to show around.
“They do a great job, they stay steady, they don’t over whip their pig,” Beery said about the final two in the class. “They’ve done a great job, these top four. I couldn’t ask for any better top four showman so far in this
season and it’s a hard decision to make.”
After all the classes finished up their individual competitions, the top two from each class competed in the finals.
The top three finalists were all from the same club, Back Road Country Kids.
Coming out of the senior class, Chloe Steiner was awarded the winner by Beery. Steiner had around 10 years of showing experience.
There were birds of all sizes and show participants of all ages at this year’s Mecosta County Fair poultry show. Following a difficult year dealing with concerns surrounding avian flu among poultry in 2022, the 2023 show returned full force on Monday, July 10, with several categories to be judged. The poultry
showmanship exhibits were displayed for the judges and for the audience in the show ring Monday morning. Then, the competition moved back into the Poultry Barn for the market pen exhibits later in the day. According to the American Poultry Association, turkeys and waterfowl are shown at most show events, but chickens are by far the most common types of fowl at most shows. The goal is to have virtually the same birds,
except for size. Typically, large fowl will weigh in at 9 to 12 pounds, while a bantam or small fowl will weigh 1.5 to 3 pounds. The birds were grouped by breed and variety, with specific breeds making up a class. Each breed has specific characteristics that differentiate it from all other breeds. Grand Champion and Reserve Champion honors were awarded for each type of bird exhibited at the fair.
The excitement was palpable and the stakes were high among cows and humans alike at the Mecosta County Free Fair 4-H market beef, market dairy and baby calf show Wednesday.
Members of the Mecosta County Youth 4-H displayed their skills with handling cows on Wednesday morning at the Mecosta Counyt Fairgrounds, 540 West Ave.
Participants worked to earn top awards in hopes the work they spend over the year taking care of the animals will pay off.
Steven Cramer, president of the fair board, said “I think it’s great because the kids have to learn how to take care of an animal, which doesn’t always cooperate.”
Cramer said he thinks the skills the kids gain will transfer to other areas later in life.
“It’s a good learning
experience to take care of something so when they get older, and they have a family, kids or whatever later on, they know how to do these things,” he said.
He said he hopes people enjoy being close to the animals.
“I hope the community is able to see animals that they may not be able to just go look at everyday, they’re here. They can actually get close to them and see what they are,” he said.
Cramer said he thinks 4-H is a good program to teach kids life skills.
“4-H is a good program and I think that it does teach kids youth in our area, every area, things about that they’re going to have to deal with later in life,” he said.
Brodem Biller, a beef showman, said “I’m hoping for grand champion placement right now. I’m hoping this year I can bump it up a notch.”
Biller said most of the
work is done at home, in the barn.
“You do most your work at home. My mom always tells me we do work at the barn so we can win ribbons out here,” he said.
Biller enjoys the everyday grind of taking care of the animal.
“I like the hard work that goes into it and it’s really rewarding,” he said. Cattle Superintendent Jennifer Marfio said “I like the amount of responsibility and stuff that it teaches the kids, I think they have a lot of fun, they get to be here with different kids.”
Marfio said the fair is the culmination of the commitment these kids undertake throughout the year.
“These kids put a lot of time and effort at home.
It’s not just the week of the fair, this is a year long thing for them. It’s not a season, it’s something that they do all of the time,” she said.
