5 decades of change for fair, farm show
Right now, youngsters are taking piglets and lambs home, gardeners are starting seeds and other competitors are also anxious to move on their projects anticipating this year's Big Butler Fair and the Butler Farm Show.
After more than five decades, that's not new. But the two summer events have changed.
“At the end of the day most of them are still after a blue ribbon,” said Jackie Bieber of Prospect, superintendent for the Big Butler Fair and the assistant superintendent of the floral department for the Butler Farm Show.
Bieber said many visitors today don't understand that the fair and the farm show are contests.
“When they come in my building they think it's a farm market," Bieber said.
Her fair responsibility is the Farm Products Building with its baked goods, canned goods, flowers, fruits and vegetables, hay and grain, photography, paintings and drawings, arts and crafts and stitchwork.
Mike Roenigk, president of the board of directors of the Big Butler Fair, said while the quality of exhibits and the style of showing at the fair have not changed, “It's harder and harder to get exhibitors.”The farm show infrastructure in 1968 was very different too. Gone are printed pages too. With wifi as part of the infrastructure, exhibitors bring laptops instead.People also want convenience. Websites, Facebook pages, online ticket sales and a computerized office help meet that demand.Metrick said, “The challenge is to keep it affordable and yet remain profitable for us. Our costs have gone up.”Metrick estimates 50,000 to 60,000 people visit the six-day farm show.Roenigk attributes the increase in visitors to varied events beyond agriculture including carnival activities and grandstand shows.Read the full story of how the fair has changed in last Friday's Butler Eagle.
