163rd Annual
Bureau County Fair
August 22-26
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163rd annual Bureau County Fair set for Aug. 22-26
PRINCETON — This year’s Bureau County Fair will open on Wednesday and offer something for everyone.
Wednesday The gates open at 2 p.m. for the 163rd annual Bureau County Fair. You will see traditional exhibits like tractor pulls, hog shows and great fair food and make memories with your family that will last forever. Plan to come several days because the entertainment changes every day. The kids have been waiting all summer for the North American Midway to open. There are wristband ride specials every day of the fair. Wednesday you can ride from 5 to 10 p.m. A $25 wristband will get them all of the rides they can handle. The Second Story Teen talent show and dunk tank are at the grandstand beginning at 6 p.m. and admission is free. At 9 p.m. walk over to the office and pick out a number for the cake walk. For only 25 cents you may get lucky and win a prize-winning cake.
Thursday Thursday is Concert Day at the Fair. American Idol winner Scotty McCreery takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Great seats are still available. Thursday has always been Senior Citizen Day at the fair. Seniors are admitted for $2. A special day of bingo games and refreshments begins at noon in the hospitality building. Free musical entertainment
begins at 3 p.m. and continues through 10 p.m. During the day you can watch the dairy cattle show or the rabbit show. The goat show starts at 6 p.m. The rest of the week’s livestock shows are on Saturday and Sunday so be sure you come back to see the beef cattle, sheep and hogs show.
Friday The longest wristband ride special is on Friday night with unlimited rides from 5 to 11 p.m. for $25. Listen for the roar and watch the smoke billow on the track as the Illini State Pullers truck and tractor pull begins at 6 p.m. The farm stock tractors pull at 5:30 p.m., but soon the track is taken over by the souped up pickups and high powered tractors. The beer garden next to the track opens at 5 p.m. Friday. As with every day of the fair, there are plenty of free shows scheduled throughout the evening. Granpa Crachet will teach kids about the Golden Rule, Kid’s Buck$ contestants compete for fun money and you can get spooked by a scary clown at the preview for Nightmare on Fairgrounds Road — all included in your admission price. The hospitality building has free music scheduled all week long. Wait until you get to the fairgrounds to eat dinner. There are great food stands all over, including corn dogs, onion rings, tacos, cotton candy, elephant ears and Kramer’s BBQ Ribs. You won’t leave hungry. Take your food to the hospitality building and enjoy the free entertainment.
Saturday
If you can only come to the fair one day, Saturday would be a great choice. It is crammed full of entertainment from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Take a good long sniff as you walk past the open air barn at the east gate. The BBQ rib cook-off chefs start their roasters bright and early. The winners will be announced around 3 p.m. and you might be lucky enough to snag a sample. The horse speed show begins at 9 a.m. Watch the riders as they fly around the cloverleaf pattern around the barrels and race their horses to the finish line. Their agility is amazing. Several livestock shows are going on across the fairgrounds too. Sheep are shown on Saturday and hogs take over the show ring on Sunday. The beef and steer shows are both days. There are two wristband ride specials on Saturday. The first one is from 1 to 5 p.m. and the second is from 5 to 11 p.m. Wristbands are $25 for each session and provide unlimited rides. There are several other free shows on the grounds several times daily. Watch the Bear Hollow chain saw carvers make tree trunks turn into cute bears or giant ears of corn. Nightmare on Fairgrounds Road haunted attraction will have a sneak peek into the dark recesses of the haunted barns. Pick up a fair brochure when you get to the grounds to check out the show times.
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The 2018 Miss Bureau County Fair Queen is Samantha Collins. She will represent the Bureau County Fair at the Miss Illinois County Fair Queen Pageant at the State Fair Convention in January. The new Junior Miss Bureau County Fair is Ashten Wilson. The new Little Miss Bureau County Fair is Charlee Bruce. These beautiful young ladies will have a full week at the fair — presenting ribbons and trophies at the livestock shows, introducing themselves on stage, riding rides and getting muddy at the demo derby. Be sure to congratulate them when you see them around the grounds. (They would love to pose with you in a picture too!)
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163RD ANNUAL
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• FAIR Continued from Page 2 The slam bang excitement of the demolition derby begins at 5 p.m. Saturday. Be sure to get to the grandstand early to see the kids competing in the Power Wheels demo derby at 4:30 p.m. Watch those tiny drivers crash their Barbie cars into each other. This year there is a beginner driver class in the demo, with drivers from 15 to 21 years old. First place is $1,000. There is also a mini van class that’s great fun to watch.
Sunday Sunday of the fair begins with more livestock shows. Swing by the hospitality building for a free slice of watermelon all afternoon. While you are there enjoy the free musical entertainment that continues until 4:30 p.m. Be sure to stop by the McCutchan Arena for the open horse show and the draft horse show. The six-
horse hitch class will be the first class on the schedule following the lunch break at approximately 1 p.m. The last blast wristband ride special is from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Ride all you want for $25. If you have admired the chain saw carvings, your chance to own one will come at 2:30 p.m. when the Bear Hollow woodcarvers artwork will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for the fair. Also on the sale block will be some great homemade pies, which will be auctioned as a fundraiser for the Bureau County Fair queen’s trip to Springfield. The Big Hat Rodeo begins in the grandstand at 3 p.m. Get there early for the best seats near the bucking chutes. The fine arts department exhibits will be released at 5 p.m. so don’t wait too long to walk through the building because it clears out in a hurry. The exhibitors will take a last look around the building, already planning for what they are going to enter next year.
Photo contributed
The truck and tractor pull will be Friday in the grandstand. The Farm Stock Tractor Pull will be at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Illini State Pullers at 6 p.m. The hook-up fee is $15 per entry number. Tickets: pit passes are $20 (all ages/no exceptions), $10 adults, $5 for ages 7 to 12, and free for ages 6 and under. The street truck classes are not sanctioned. Illini State Pullers rules and regulations will govern the event.
See you at the Bureau County Fair!
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HORSE EVENTS
Events planned for Saturday and Sunday in McCutchan Arena PRINCETON — Horse events have always been a large part of the Bureau County Fair, since its inception in 1855. In those days the racetrack infield was lined with horses and buggies. The harness races were a huge part of the fair, with downtown businesses closing on Thursday afternoon so everyone could attend the races. By 1909, 34 of the newfangled automobiles had begun to make an appearance at the fairgrounds. Traditions changed and by 1921, automobile racing soon became the drawing card. Horse events are a still a big part of the 163rd Bureau County Fair. On Saturday, the horse speed show starts at 9 a.m. in McCutchan Arena. Barrel racing and pole bending classes for all ages of riders will be held. There is bleacher seating or you can bring your lawn chair. On Sunday morning, the open horse show starts at 9 a.m. It includes halter classes and riding classes for kids and adults. At 10 a.m. Sunday, the halter classes for the draft horse show begin. You can see the beautiful Percherons, Belgians and Clydes-
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BUREAU COUNTY FAIR | August 2018
Horsing around
Hold on to your Big Hats!
dales up close. Following the lunch break, at approximately 1 p.m., be sure to get over to McCutchan Arena to see the exciting six-horse hitch class. You can feel the ground shake as the huge horses trot past you pulling the wooden wagons. Following that class will be the four-horse hitch class, teams to wagons and single horse to cart classes along with a ride a draft class.
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The Big Hat Rodeo, scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, at the Bureau County Fair grandstand, is sure to please fans of bull riding, barrel racing, team roping, saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, steer wrestling and more. The Big Hat Rodeo, the Midwest’s premier professional rodeo company, and its talented rodeo performers work with one common goal, to make every performance “the wildest, most exciting and fun it can be.” The beer garden next to the grandstand, operated by the Tiskilwa Community Association, will open at 2 p.m. that day.
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EXHIBIT HALLS
Blue ribbon winners
PRINCETON — The exhibit halls will be filled to the brim during the 163rd annual Bureau County Fair. Exhibit Hall 1 and 3 will have all kinds of commercial exhibits. Stroll around and see what they have to show you while you pick up some literature or a nail file or a bag of popcorn. Exhibit Hall 2 is the Fine Arts Building. This is blue ribbon territory. By the time the fair opens on Wednesday afternoon, all of the exhibits in the building will have been judged and the ribbons will be on the prize winners. Plan to take a long time to wander through the building to see the work that is the pride and joy of the exhibitors. The floral department has two shows, with fresh flower arrangements also coming in for judging
on Friday morning so you can see the freshest flower arrangements. Baked goods are shown Wednesday through Saturday with a different category each day. Stick around in the evening for the cake walk by the fair office and you may be lucky enough to take home a winning cake, pie or loaf of bread. The departments that are in the
building are art, photography, canning, baked goods, hobbies and collections, textiles, floriculture and horticulture. You will see beautiful handmade crafts and decorations, patchwork quilts, canned jams and jellies, hundreds of photographs, scrapbooks, decorated cakes and even finger paintings. Plus many more things than can even be men-
tioned here. The items that are shown aren’t just done by adults. There are many classes for children and teens too. There are even classes in the baking department just for men. The exhibit halls are open daily from noon to 10 p.m. and on Sunday until 5 p.m. This year’s fair runs Aug. 22-26.
Enjoy the Bureau County Fair!
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SPECIAL ATTRACTION
Watch out! Here he comes, that mad-cap oldster in a checked shirt and overalls rumbling right through the middle of our event. It’s Granpa Cratchet in his little pickup truck out making deliveries from the general store. As he drives you can hear him yell out, “Stay out of the way! No brakes, no steering, no eyesight, no sense of direction!” Granpa says, “My driving is so bad the police wrote me a season ticket!” And, “My driving is so bad they have a tow truck meet me at every intersection.” My personal favorite is, “You don’t like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk.” Granpa Cratchet is the invention of Sam Bowman, who grew up on the farm near his hometown of Sharpsville, Ind. Sam got the idea for his Puppetmobile from an old-fashioned delivery truck run by Virgil Carter and his family. Virgil used to drive his 1940s International, that looked a lot like a cross between a school bus and a gypsy wagon, around the countryside selling groceries on the roll. He’d drive right into your driveway and you could shop for all your groceries without ever leaving home. Now that’s an idea that even modern stores haven’t thought of! Sam designed and built this miniature truck on the farm in his shop. It has horns, lights, a squirting radiator and all kinds of silly sounds. Granpa’s favorite cross joke is, “What do you get when you cross Bat Man, Robin and a steam roller? Flatman and ribbon!” Then he proceeds to guffaw at his own joke for about five minutes.
Granpa himself is a professional puppet like you’d see on national TV. Sam, who writes all his own material, says most of his ideas for patter come from real. He has logged over 1,000 jokes, including hundreds of bad driving jokes, cross this with that jokes, knock-knock jokes, silly farmer jokes, jokes about politicians and on and on it goes. Granpa also does a great job of teaching the kids old-fashioned lessons like safety first and work together. This year he will be teaching about the golden rule, treat others the way you
want to be treated. Parents love this clean, family strolling show and Granpa is always sure to teach the kids about the good ole days. You and your kids can visit his website for free games, stories, jokes and activities at www.oldcoot.com. Granpa Cratchet will be driving all around in his miniature old truck cracking lots of jokes, handing out one-liners and hugs to all the kids as he teaches the golden rule. So head on out and make sure to ask him about his big stage show at the Granpa Comedy Theater, too. All brought to you free by the Bureau County Fair.
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Old man gets ticket — for bad driving and bad jokes
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FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT
There’s something for everyone at this year’s Bureau County Fair PRINCETON — What are some unusual things to see at the Bureau County Fair? You can win a prize-winning cake, loaf of bread or cookies at the cake walk, which is held outside the fair office nightly at 9 p.m. It’s kind of like musical chairs for baked goods. Pick a number to stand on, pay a quarter and you may take home a tasty treat. You can take your picture standing next to some of the tallest corn stalks and see some of the largest vegetables in the horticulture department. Two exhibit halls are filled with commercial vendors with everything from lawn mowers to candles. Stop by their booths and pick up a free pen or nail file or even a bag of popcorn. On Thursday night there is a Dress a Goat contest following the goat show. See what unique designs they will use to make matching costumes for the exhibitor and their pet. There will be a free sneak preview of the fair’s annual haunted attraction “Nightmare on Fairgrounds Road.” The kids can participate in The Kids Buck$ contest several times
each day. The little kids can milk a cow, dig for potatoes or pick apples in the Farm Bureau area in building 4. You can see huge amounts of horsepower on Friday night during the truck and tractor pull, with everything from antique farm tractors to modified tractors complete with roll cages and pickup trucks pulling the sled down the track. Have you watched the chain saw carvers and wondered how on earth do they make that tree trunk into such amazing carvings? Your chance to own one of these carvings comes Sunday afternoon when the carvings they have created all week will be auctioned off as a fundraiser for the fair. Come out during the week and pick out your favorite to bid on. You can also help out the fair queen raise funds for her trip to the state pageant. There will be a Queens Pie Auction at 2:30 p.m. right before the carving auction with delicious homemade pies and treats up for sale. The food at the fair is always a special treat. You can have BBQ ribs, tacos, 4-H BBQ sandwiches, fried everything, and then top it off
with a cool lemonade shake up, hot fudge sundae or a huge elephant ear. Have you ever been to a fair where there is free watermelon? Step right over to the hospitality building on Sunday afternoon and get a slice of watermelon or cantaloupe as a thank you to our fairgoers from the Bureau County Fair. The last event of the 2018 Bureau County Fair the Big Hat Rodeo at 3 p.m. See if the cowboys can stay on the bulls for 8 seconds. Barrel racing, steer wrestling, bareback bronc riding and much more excitement that is fun for the whole family.
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