While the first two days of this year's Kalamazoo County fair were dedicated to 4-H, food, rides, games and shows returned to the fairgrounds on Thursday.
Food
Soft pretzels, funnel cakes and corn dogs are just some of the foods that are back this year. On Thursday, Carter Ibison was hard at work at one of his family’s concession stands, Carter's Grill, getting them ready for attendees.
"We're getting quite a bit of people. We're actually surprised how many people showed up today."
He said it's been a long time since his family sold food at the fair, adding that out of all the food they sell, customers are most happy to see this fair classic make its return.
"Elephant ears. That's all we serve. That's the fan favorite."
Entertainment
Nearby, at the Steamers Thrill Show, a performer was doing stunts high in the air.
Landon Gilfillan watched with her son and his friends. She said she's happy to see the fair get back into full swing, adding that the attractions help make the fair a gathering spot for Kalamazoo County.
“I think it brings in more the community. It allows even the 4-Hers to participate in things outside of just their animals. So, yeah, it makes it more of a community event.”
In addition to the thrill show, kids could also enjoy balloon darts, rock climbing, a shooting gallery, magic shows and more.
4-H
One thing that has remained at the fair over the past few years is 4-H.
Julia Shook showed turkeys at this year's fair, with her market tom winning reserve champion and her market hen winning grand champion.
She said the fair's 4-H focus in previous years came with positives and negatives.
"During that time, it was nice, but also it felt very empty. Like, you didn't see a lot of community support coming in to support you," Shook said.
"You saw your family, which was awesome, and a lot of people came in like from out of town to come watch or whatever. But then, the community wasn't as involved, which we would like as 4-H, having the big crowd to come watch you and support you."
And it wasn't just poultry shown at this year's fair, with 4-Hers also taking care of and showing pigs, goats, rabbits and even bearded dragons.
Shelby Gernaat’s bearded dragon Toto won reserve champion this year. She said she hopes the fair attractions will bring more visitors to the barns, so they can see that 4-H is more than just livestock.
“People don't expect you can bake for 4-H. I did that for a few years. People think 4-H is just your casual farm animals, but no, it's a lot more than that. You can do speeches, all sorts of things."
She added that she hopes the increase in traffic will also help the fair grow.
"The more people that come through, the more people get interested, and then the more people that are interested, the more fair can grow back up," Gernaat said.
"A lot of people say COVID killed stuff, and COVID definitely killed fairs. I can tell you that much."
4-H program coordinator Veronica Bolhuis echoed this sentiment.
She said she hopes the return of the attractions brings more people to the barns.
“They don't know the difference between cows and steers. So, talking to these 4-H kids and learning about those things is really important and knowing where your food comes from," Bolhuis said.
"But we also want to focus that we don't just do animals. So, we have a robotics program, we have arts and crafts, we have science things. So, there's a lot of different things that we do around financial literacy, around helping kids become good adults, but good teenagers also."
The fair continues through Saturday. A schedule of events can be found on Kalamazoo County's website.
