JANESVILLE — Ella Roehl, 17, and her sister Chloe Roehl, 14, of Clinton, shuffled a barrow and a gilt from their trailer into the swine barn at the Rock County Fairgrounds on Monday, in preparation for showing them this week.
The fair starts Tuesday and runs through Sunday. The fairgrounds are located at 1301 Craig Ave. Information on admission ticket prices, carnival prices and wristband packages, the exhibitor judging schedule and the full week’s fair schedule is at www.rockcounty4hfair.com.
Swine come early to the fair and are weighed soon after arriving. In all, the Roehls brought four barrows and two gilts. On Monday, they were spreading bedding and washing their animals.
Their father, Steve Roehl, has been bringing his children to the fair since they were little.
The swine show at the stock pavilion on Wednesday morning is “the show to win in the area,” Steve Roehl said, noting the toughness of the competition.
“We took a hog here and won third class and won state with it,” he said.
Ella and Chloe said bringing an animal to the fair is hard work, but they’re used to that at their family farm, Roehl Farms in Clinton.
“We do three hours of chores in the barn a night. Which translates into the work we do here and makes us a lot more prepared,” Ella said.
Participating in the fair “creates a lot of good opportunities for the both of us and gives us a great work ethic, which translates into outside life,” Chloe said.
“The amount of care that these kids give all the animals here at the fair is tremendous,” Fair Board President Ryan George added.
Exhibitors
According to the fair, a total of 8,368 projects — that can be anything from showing an animal to arts and crafts to foods — were entered by exhibitors this year. That’s the greatest number of projects entered since before the Covid-19 pandemic, when 9,510 projects were exhibited in 2019.
There are also 115 vendors on the fairgrounds this year.
Dairy barn
Set up was also underway Monday in the dairy barn, where there’s a brand-new milking station just completed last week, George said. Milking machines there will milk cows twice a day and collect the milk in a tank.
Joe Martin, of Martin Dairy Farms, said he headed the project for three key reasons.
First, he said, the old milking station “was antiquated, so we had to address that.”
“Education was not a piece we were able to do as well as we liked, both for the exhibitors but primarily for the fair goers. It was also a little bit of a safety concern, as it was dangerous for small kids and strollers trying to get up close,” Martin continued. “This is going to be a much better environment for people to see what we’re doing and for us to tell our story.”
Martin was ensuring the dairy barn was prepared for 4-H youth to arrive on Tuesday.
“Kids are at home doing final prep work, their washing, clipping and training. Tomorrow they’ll bring the animal and any supporting stuff such as feed and equipment,” Martin said.
The fairgrounds also have beef, sheep and poultry barns. Clubs decorate their stalls in the barns.
The very first barn on grounds started being set up last Tuesday.
“It’s a small ground, [18] acres, so everything can’t just show up all at once,” Martin said.
As the vendors set up Monday, an electrician was ensuring that power was set up correctly and safely for them.
Midway setup
About 85 people worked Monday to set up 25 rides from North American Midway Entertainment, the world’s largest traveling carnival.
It brought a well-known fair ride, a Century Ferris wheel, and a new attraction, the Downdraft, to Janesville.
“Can’t have a fair without a Ferris wheel,” George said. “The appeal of this one is that it takes one semi to bring in.” The Downdraft spins riders into a circle while pushing them outward.
Preparations on Monday included state safety checks of carnival rides. There will also be daily safety checks throughout the fair.
The carnival “is entertainment that everybody looks forward to every year. A lot of rural communities don’t really get to see a carnival too often unless they go to the state fair,” said Tom Thebault, general manager of North American Midway Entertainment said.
Meanwhile, just down from where the carnival was setting up, Justin Jacuues, of Connecticut and Jim Milbrandt, of Janesville sat under a tent wrapping pounds of russet potatoes in aluminum foil that will be sold this week at Billie’s Baked Potatoes.
“This is one of our oldest stands here,” George said. Operated by Raymond and Dolores Billie beginning in 1976, it was bought by George Martin of Massachusetts in 2008.
“The [Billies] used to store their trailers in some buildings I had, so that’s how I met them. When they were looking to retire, they kept asking me to take it over,” Martin said. He said his favorite part about participating in fairs is meeting new people and reconnecting with the staff and other vendors.
Martin said setup at the fairgrounds began in earnest last Friday.
“It’s mostly cleaning, making sure the equipment is working properly and fixing things here and there and getting all the food in stock and put away,” Martin said.
His girlfriend’s son, Jacuues, travels with him to help, then he receives more help from local people such as Milbrandt, who has been helping out at the fair for nearly 20 years.
“My wife Kathy and I saw an ad for help one year and we’ve been here ever since. Us and our daughter, Rachel, really enjoy helping out,” Milbrandt said.
Martin also brings the potato stand to the Wisconsin State Fair.
They planned to start cooking potatoes around 9 a.m. Tuesday.
“I love coming to the fair,” Jacuues said.
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