Colton’s fair starts Friday

The Colton school grounds will transform into fairgrounds Friday for this year’s Colton/Uniontown Fair.

Students of all ages have been preening and training a host of animals to show at the fair, which opens at 8 a.m. and closes around 5 p.m. Most of this year’s event are animal shows, with a concession stand offering home-made food.

Fair manager Debbie Niehenke said all the large livestock will be shown from 10 a.m. to noon. and horses will be shown beginning at 1 p.m.

New to the fair this year will be the Agriculture Olympics in which students let loose in a series of events related to real-life competency at farming chores.

“We’re going to have straw bale stacking, tractor driving, mini-pedal tractor. They’ll be able to set sprinkler pipes,” Niehenke said.

Dog show entries have grown by about five this year with 18 students bringing in their pups. The dog show will begin at 8:15 a.m.

“The dog show itself lasts half the day,” she said.

Small animal fitting and showing begins at 8:30 a.m. Niehenke said one specialty in this competition is sixth grader Ali Davies pet chicken.

“These chickens will sit down on the table and kind of tuck their wings around themselves. They’ll allow the exhibitors to pull out their wing and show it to the judge,” Niehenke said.

The local Catholic Daughters group will sell fair food like sandwiches, doughnuts, and cinnamon rolls all day.