One of my busiest weeks of every year is officially in the books for 2026, the Kent County! To say I was exhausted by the end of that fair is an understatement, but as always it was a fun week that I was able to help with behind the scenes and in the moment this year!
Before I dive into the Kent County Fair activities, I was able to take a quick tour of Meck Farm's Poultry facility with my mentor from Queen Anne's County, Jenny Rhodes on Tuesday. This was my first time being inside a chicken house, which holds roughly 42,000 birds! I had not be able to imagine that many birds fitting inside the building previously, but upon seeing the inside and learning how everything operated, it was easy to tell the birds had plenty of space and were kept extremely comfortable by their farmers.
Back to County Fair mode for the rest of this post, Monday was spent helping get showbooks organized and printed. I don't think I can tell you how much paper we went through printing out enough show books for each show, but I think we used more packs of paper than I can count on one hand. Monday and Tuesday evening were both spent helping the enter indoor exhibits, and on Tuesday I assited 4-H kids in setting up their stalls and decorations. If you're wondering how many indoor exhibits were checked in, the 4-H photography divisions had over 500 entries, and cakes & pies for 4-H had over 200 entries. Those numbers dont include any of the other indoor categories, and don't include open entries. So it's always a bit hectic getting everything entered and organized in the indoor building. 
Inside one of the Meck Farm's chicken houses, this was only one half of the facility!
The fair officially began on Wednesday, I helped at the dog show as the announcer, and then quickly after the dog show was done we rolled right into opening ceremonies, and I helped set up the props for the fairs 4-H talent show. Thursday was my calm before the storm day, I had spent a couple hours on gate duty, but spent most of the rest of the day helping out our farms 4-Hers keeping our cattle cooled down and comfortable.
Friday and Saturday were my two biggest days at the fair, Friday I started with actually competing in the open beef show, coming home with Grand Champion Open Prospect Steer with Running W Calgary, and Reserve Grand Champion Open Heifer with my bred & owned heifer Running W Razzle Dazzle, who's mother won Grand Champion Heifer at this same show with me back in 2021. The afternoon, I was able to be a tour guide for a group of exchange students from the Western United States. We had students from Oregon, Utah, Alaska, and even someone from Hollywood, California! The kids got to tour the fairgrounds, give a live demonstration and the chance to milk a dairy goat, learn about market hogs, dairy cattle, meet our Highland Cattle, and at the end of the tour, the county's shooting sports leader had me get into the dunking booth and gave each group member a ball to toss. After changing my soaked clothes and letting the exchange group enjoy the rest of the fair on their own, I went to help ringside at the Greased Pig Race, helping get the kids hands greased up and wrangling any escaped piggies back into the race pen, and reset the straw bales for the fairs pickle eating contest.
Exchange students watching a live goat milking demo presented by the Fitch family and their first freshener Nubian doe "Martini".
Moving into Saturday already exhausted, I started the day bright and early with the county fair horse show, helping to announce, have kids ready for classes, and set up the obstacle course. At the completion of the horse show, I moved right into getting ready for the fairs Master Showman competition, where the Grand or Reserve Champion showman for beef, dairy cattle, meat goats, dairy goats, sheep, and swine compete against each other, using an animal from each species that is not their own, to determine which showman is the most versatile of the fair. The fair day ended with me serving up chicken dinner with the Kent County 4-H All Stars, and attending the auction where Running W puchased the Intermediate Champion cake, an Apple Crumble Cheesecake, and a Cherry Pound Cake. Outside of the auction, I was also able to buy an Apple Cider Donut Cake from a 4-Her that did not make it into the auction.
Our phenomenal group of Master Showman competitors, all the kids did amazing in the competition! Congratulation to the 2026 Kent County Fair Master Showman Riley Wagner!
Weather wise everyone at the fair could agree Mother Nature wanted to see just how much we could withstand, from heat index's of over 100 degrees, air quality warnings due to the smoke from Canada's wildfires, and a severe thunderstorm that had people sheltered in bathrooms and secure buildings, and a tornado warning on Saturday just a couple hours before the auction. Despite this, all the 4-H kept on working hard, volunteers kept showing up to help out, and the fair ran as smoothly as we could make it. With Kent County 4-H's word of the year being "Perseverance", it seems the kids took that word to heart and figured their way around everything the weather threw our way.
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