Allen County Fair royalty named at kickoff dinner

LIMA — Every day brings Allen County closer to its 174th county fair, and on Thursday, the fair’s kickoff dinner at the fairgrounds’ youth activities building helped generate excitement for this year’s rendition with the introduction of the junior fair royalty.

Named the 2024 Jr. Fair King and Queen were Brody Roof and Delaney Jones. Involved in 4-H for 12 years, most recently with the Amanda Agriculture 4-H Club, Roof will begin his freshman year this fall at Ohio State-Lima majoring in animal science in the hopes of becoming a large animal veterinarian. Roof had previously been named the 2021 Pork Prince and the 2022 Pork King.

“Both of my parents had taken fair projects and all of that sort of stuff, and my uncle took hogs, and that is instantly what I fell in love with,” he said. “I joined Junior Leaders about six years ago, and that was the focal point on getting me onto the Junior Fair Board, which has changed my overall outlook of the fair.”

Jones has been involved with the Auglaize Agriculture 4-H Club for the past 10 years, and she has also served with the Allen County FFA. She is currently the Junior Fair Board president for the 2023-2024 fair season. She will begin her studies in nursing this fall at Rhodes State College.

“It was just something of a family tradition, and it’s something that I took up and really enjoy doing,” she said, speaking of her involvement in the fair. “It’s a pastime going out to the barn after school or all day during the summer, and it’s just something I’ve always enjoyed.”

For Roof, being named the junior fair king gives him the opportunity to promote the fair and inspire others to get involved while also shining a light on all the work that goes into putting the fair together.

“People just think that all the vendors and the people that set up the rides just come and set everything up and we just show up the day of load-outs and weigh-ins,” he said. “In reality, we spend months and months prepping everything and busting our butts out here all day long. On our work days, we’re out here from 10 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. working and getting everything prepped to take a little bit of the pressure off our maintenance crews as well as our senior fair board members.”

With all of that work in place, Jones hopes she can use her position to help people see how rewarding involvement with the fair can be.

“I plan to be a positive role model who encourages involvement throughout the fair and makes people realize how much fun you can have at the Allen County Fair, whether it’s on the midway or down in a barn.”

Also included in this year’s court were Junior Fair Prince Isaac Richard and Princess Abby Stechschulte.

During the dinner, Dr. David L. Steiner of the Steiner Stock Farm was inducted into the Allen County Agricultural Society Hall of Fame for his consistent support of the horse events at the fair, including harness racing.

“That support even led to the donation of the barn and land along state Route 117 to the Allen County Agricultural Society,” fair manager Troy Elwer said. “Over the years, Doc and Steiner Stock Farm did whatever they could to support the harness racing department, and even today, the farm manager helps maintain our track.”