Auglaize County Fair celebrates seniors Monday

WAPAKONETA — Seniors gained half-priced admission to the Auglaize County Fair on Monday for Senior Day.

A $5 ticket bought seniors a day of taste-testing homemade candy, ice cream and pork chops on the midway, watching wiener dog races and kiddie tractor pulls in the grandstands or cheering on youth competing in the junior fair livestock shows.

Youth practiced putting out forest fires in the U.S. Army’s virtual reality simulation trailer, a new and popular destination for fairgoers this year.

Each virtual reality headset in the trailer is programmed to simulate a helicopter mission, during which the pilot must extinguish as many forest fires as the pilot possibly can in four minutes.

The Auglaize County Fair returned Sunday, starting with the western horse show.

The fair’s second day featured the junior fair horse and pony show, swine showmanship contest and goat show, concluding with the king and queen coronation ceremony in the Gospel Tent on Monday evening.

The Auglaize County Pork Producers hosted a special contest for kids too young to compete in the junior fair, who faced off against their peers and some adults in the Adult and Pee Wee Showmanship contest Monday evening.