Mud, mud and more mud

One word can sum up many of the events of this year’s Posey County Fair — mud. And as far as I’m concerned, mud’s about all you need to have a good time.
The other events were definitely worth my time as well. I enjoy looking at the farm animals and exhibits, and I never knew until this year how much I could enjoy a cat show. Those things are just so darn cute. And there’s the talent show, the pageants and all the livestock shows.
I’ve heard people complain about the lack of rides, and I know a lot of folks were disappointed that this year’s fair featured no demolition derby — or crash-up derby, as we used to call them as kids, when we’d smash our Hot Wheels into one another. I feel for the folks who looked forward to participating in that event this year, but I trust the fair board made decisions they felt were in the best interest of the fair.
For me, the most fun events to watch were the mud events. With the world’s technology and even our advancements in farm machinery, it’s refreshing to know that so much fun can come from dirt and water.
There’s always a good turnout for mud volleyball, and pig wrestling is also a popular event. However, this year featured another event that I’d hoped to see more participation in — the fair’s first-ever Mud-A-Thon. The Mud-A-Thon was an obstacle course set up in the arena’s mud pit. Contestants faced a series of obstacles, including crawling under a rope, climbing rolls of hay, walking across a tube after making themselves dizzy, crawling through another larger pipe and finally running back to the start through the mud pit.
The idea was for teams to compete relay-style, but since only a couple teams showed up, organizers allowed contestants to run the course one-on-one. This had the advantage of drawing some folks from the crowd who might not have run otherwise, due to not having enough people for a team. The event mostly drew the attention of kids and teens, but some adults took the challenge, and mastered the course quite handily, I might add. I could only hope to compete as well.
As I watched, I found myself wondering if I could even climb a roll of hay anymore. Growing up playing on the hay rolls on my grandparents’ dairy and tobacco farm, I felt a little saddened, and ashamed, at the thought that, in my current shape, I probably couldn’t. As I work to get myself into shape by next year’s fair, maybe I can muster up three more folks to be on a Mud-A-Thon team with me. Who knows, if I’m feeling really good, I might even put out a challenge, and make a friendly wager (non-monetary, of course).
Thanks to everyone who organized and participated in this year’s Posey County 4-H Fair. I had a great time, and we have tons of photos to show the fun. Fair photos and results are in this week’s B section.