With an Oink Oink Here ...

State Fair of Virginia Re-Emphasizes Agriculture

Story by Kathy Dixon

Children expectantly press their faces against the glass wall, waiting for downy, spindly-legged baby chicks to break through the eggs in the hatchery.

Nearby, excitement builds as kids and adults wait to witness the wonder of a baby calf being born in the Young MacDonald’s Farm tent.

Livestock star in Young MacDonald's Farm tent..

Other visitors stand in line to take their turns milking a cow, children squealing at their first encounter with an udder.

Down the hill, throngs of people wait in the September sun to watch gigantic pumpkins being weighed. And there is never a shortage of small children scrambling onto farm equipment or gawking at the peculiarly plumed poultry.

At the State Fair of Virginia, agriculture is front and center. And for many fairgoers, the annual event may be their only encounter with the state’s largest industry — other than daily meals.

“I loved seeing the animals, vegetables and cows. It was awesome,” wrote Kyra, a Chesterfield County student whose class took a field trip to last year’s fair.

When visitors arrive at The Meadow Event Park in Caroline County between Sept. 26 and Oct. 5, they will be greeted by the sights and sounds of agriculture right alongside the exciting noises of midway rides and games.

Entering through the ticket plaza, fairgoers will encounter shiny tractors and giant combines. The impressive machines are juxtaposed with nearby candy apple and kettle corn vendors.

The fair is a vital tool for helping the public understand the importance of agriculture.

A quick stroll to the Equine & Livestock Complex offers visitors the chance to see 4-H and FFA members cleaning, feeding and grooming cows, sheep, pigs and goats. More than 350 youth from across the state participated in last year’s livestock competitions.The competitions are the result of long-term projects for students raising farm animals. 4-H and FFA youth livestock programs enable youth to learn about selection, care and feeding of livestock, animal health and the importance of good recordkeeping.

The programs offer events throughout the year, and the State Fair competition is the statewide culmination of those shows. Each year at the fair, winning youth receive as much as $70,000 in scholarship money.

“These livestock shows are a time-honored tradition, and I know the shows are an important part of many people’s State Fair experience,” says Virginia Farm Bureau Federation President Wayne F. Pryor. “We were thrilled to bring the competitions back so we can continue to provide youth scholarship money and educate fairgoers about livestock.”

The livestock shows traditionally had been held at the State Fair but moved to Rockingham County in 2012 to ensure continuity after SFVA Inc., the not-for-profit organization that produced the State Fair of Virginia, announced Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in December 2011. The State Fair ceased operations on March 7, 2012.

The fate of the fair hung in limbo for a couple of months until it was bought at auction that May by Tennessee-based Universal Fairs. The Virginia Farm Bureau Federation wanted to preserve the event’s agricultural heritage and, in July, signed an agreement to purchase a 50 percent share of The Meadow Event Park in Caroline County and the State Fair operation.

“The fair is a vital tool for helping the public understand the importance of the agriculture industry,” Pryor says.

Farm Group and Fair Were Natural Fit

When the announcement about the partnership was made that summer, then-Gov. Bob McDonnell noted that, for more than a century, “The State Fair has educated and entertained millions of Virginians. Today’s announcement helps to ensure that future generations of Virginians will continue to experience the best of what the fair has to offer.

“In addition, the Farm Bureau’s investment will guarantee that agriculture, Virginia’s largest industry, will be featured prominently — as it should be — at the fair for years to come.”

In early 2013, Farm Bureau bought Universal Fairs’ share of the operation and became the sole owner of the 331-acre Meadow Event Park and the State Fair of Virginia. That’s when the youth livestock competitions returned to the fair, and they will be held there again this year. The cattle will be housed in the new 40,000-square-foot First Bank & Trust Pavilion. When not in use for the fair, the open-sided structure will provide a covered arena for horse shows, rodeos, dog agility shows and other events.

“Construction of this pavilion represents continued commitment to the State Fair of Virginia by the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation,” which paid for the building, says Jeff Dillon, SFVA president.

The fair includes examples of superb crops and produce.

The livestock pavilion is just one example of Farm Bureau’s commitment to ensuring that agriculture remains the backbone of the fair.

In addition to livestock shows, there are a plethora of equine events during the fair, including a professional rodeo, mounted cowboy shooting demonstrations and miniature horse, draft horse and mule shows.

Last year, a home vegetable garden and a commercial row crops plot were planted in Harvest Landing. Visitors found sorghum, corn, soybeans and peanuts growing alongside the children’s Ferris wheel. Caroline County Farm Bureau’s president, Lynwood Broaddus, spent a good part of each day at the fair talking to visitors and answering their questions about the crops. The commercial and vegetable plots have been planted again this year, and a collection of urban-style raised-bed gardens have been planted as well.

Fairgoers Want Agriculture as Part of the Experience

Fairgoer surveys in recent years found that 84 percent of attendees experienced animal agriculture at the event, and 72 percent toured general agriculture exhibits.

“Farm Bureau has been a key partner in those educational efforts over the years,” Pryor says. “The State Fair’s unique combination of hands-on exhibits, animals and programs, nostalgia and family-friendly entertainment made it a perfect teaching tool for future generations to learn about farming.”           

It was a natural fit for the state’s largest farm advocacy group. “Having as part of our mission the preservation of agriculture, we felt it was paramount to step up to the plate and assist with the fair,” Pryor says.  

Goats, Chickens and Rabbits, Oh My!

In addition to the livestock competitions, the State Fair offers a variety of other ag-related contests. The giant pumpkin contest is always a crowd favorite, and this year there will be added emphasis on giant watermelons.

In the Young MacDonald’s Farm tent, which houses farm animal exhibits, visitors can watch fuzzy ducklings waddle up a ramp and slide down a sliding board into a pool in an attempt to snag a treat, examine cows and calves from a variety of cattle breeds and observe pigs, alpacas and donkeys.

In a separate poultry and rabbit tent, fairgoers can take a selfie with a Silkie and examine green eggs laid by Ameraucana chickens. Or they can marvel at the fuzzy mane around the faces of Lionhead rabbits and be amazed by the Alice in Wonderland-style white New Zealand rabbits. 

Fair Is Large Outdoor Classroom

Students from schools near and far take field trips to the fair. In the Meadow Pavilion, which showcases Virginia agricultural commodities, children watch the workings of a beehive and find out how peanuts are grown. They also see farm animals up close, pan for gold and observe the principles of physics on midway rides. Many of the exhibits included in the fair’s Educational Exposition coincide with the state’s Standards of Learning.

“There is a very good reason to call the fair ‘Virginia’s Largest Outdoor Classroom,’” says Betsy Foster, coordinator of the Ed Expo, which draws about 14,000 students to the fair annually.

FFA and 4-H Youth enjoy involve-ment in the State Fair.

There also are youth who visit prior to the fair to prepare student gardens for 4-H and FFA competitions. The 2014 theme is “Southern Hospitality,” and their gardens will be interpretations of the theme. Student gardens are judged at the beginning of the fair and remain on display throughout the 10 days.

This year hay bale and Christmas tree decorating contests were added. Groups have been invited to come out before the fair and decorate large round bales of hay and freshly cut evergreens. The decorated bales will be located throughout the property, and the trees will be displayed in the horticulture tent.

Students and other visitors to the fair have the added benefit of breathing in fresh country air at The Meadow Event Park, which is the birthplace of thoroughbred racing legend Secretariat, winner of the 1973 Triple Crown.  

Fair History Full of Agriculture

The annual State Fair of Virginia dates back to 1854. It has been located in a variety of places in Richmond and at Strawberry Hill off Laburnum Avenue, which became the Richmond International Raceway. It moved to its current location in 2009 and now attracts about 230,000 visitors.

In 1942, when the Virginia State Fair Association bought the Strawberry Hill property, the association was renamed the Atlantic Rural Exposition Inc. Its vision was to establish a cattle show at the fair that would benefit cattlemen in Virginia and other states along the Atlantic Seaboard. Initial plans called for stall space for all beef and dairy breeds, a 4-H and FFA building, facilities for poultry, sheep, horses and swine, and buildings for agronomy and horticulture.

In the 1950s, the fair was called “The Greatest Livestock Show in the East,” with more than 1,500 prize animals and 20 departments dedicated to livestock, agriculture and 4-H and FFA exhibits.

Today, the goal of the State Fair of Virginia is to keep agriculture at the forefront of the fair while continuing to provide quality family entertainment.

“We want the fair to be a fun experience for everyone, and we hope that fairgoers will enjoy learning about the state’s largest industry in an interesting, entertaining setting,” Dillon says. “After all, where else in Virginia can you ride the Zipper, eat a pork parfait and watch a calf being born? Nowhere but at the State Fair.”

Family-Friendly Attractions Are Sure to be Crowd-Pleasers

From a roving washboard musician to national recording artists, the State Fair of Virginia offers entertainment for everyone.

And let’s not forget all the tantalizing food in Festival Loop. Fairgoers can feast on funnel cakes, gnaw on giant turkey legs or kill their diets with a Krispy Kreme cheeseburger. There also are plenty of candy apples and snow cones to enjoy while watching the demolition derby or listening to country sensation, Parmalee, The Original Drifters or the Fabulous Thunderbirds perform on the Festival Stage. And a wide variety of Virginia musicians will perform at the Triple Crown Amphitheater.

Chainsaw-carving demonstrations are popular fair attractions.

Other visitors may want to watch Masters of the Chainsaw’s Ben Risney sculpt logs into works of art. His sculptures will be auctioned off at the end of the fair to benefit the State Fair scholarship fund. Last year’s auction raised more than $13,000. There also will be a lumberjack show, a firefighter show and the magic and illusions of magician and hypnotist Lance Gifford. Crowd favorite Rosaire’s Royal Racers will pit pig against pig as they race around the track.

The West Texas Rattlesnake Show is sure to shake things up when a rattlesnake wrangler stands in a glass enclosure with 14 Western Diamondback snakes and demonstrates how fast they can strike.

And those attending the fair will have several chances each day to see frisky canines jumping, flipping and catching flying discs as part of the K9s in Flight show. For fairgoers who like their entertainment fast and dangerous, there is the Kachunga & The Alligator show. The alligator-wrestling spectacle began in 1982 as a public awareness program about wildlife, but has grown into a wildly popular fair attraction. There also are heart-thumping thrill rides throughout the Midway Madness area. And stunt bike riders, a stilt walker and two nights each of demolition derby and professional rodeo will entertain fairgoers as well.

All music and attractions are included with an admission ticket. For a full list of attractions and the musical lineup for this year’s State Fair of Virginia, visit StateFairVa.org.