Lake County’s opinions on local/state issues

Check out today’s editorial columns, cartoons and letters from our readers.

I would like to personally thank Sheli Wright, Lake County Fair CEO, and her outstanding team of Junior Livestock Committee Officers for their hard work and tireless hours dedicated to our 4-H and FFA programs this year.

Sheli was very attentive and energetic in her uphill battle to keep the Lake County Fair on track this year. With doors shutting right and left, she found a way for our kids to show their animals in a market class at the fair with all the COVID restrictions met. She hired an online auction company to work with the Lake County Fair and help our kids get their animals sold, all while keeping an open-door policy and personally answering her phone and emails promptly to make sure we all understood how things would work.

The Junior Livestock Committee put together a fantastic experience for the kids. The Junior Livestock Committee put this together for metal fabrication projects, rabbit, goats, lamb, steer, and hogs. This includes an entire week, with a separate animal each day. Due to the health restrictions, they thought of everything and ran it by the book to ensure a safe and fun day for all that participated.

My daughter is 11 years old and this is her second year as a member of Middletown 4-H. Being so new to raising hogs, this was an invaluable year to teach hard work, without knowing if there would be a positive outcome or not.

She did her best to talk with buyers, some in person and some online, to try to sell her hogs online. This was another lesson teaching her to adapt to this everchanging world and “roll with the punches,” so to speak.

“Thank you” to all the Lake County Fair staff, the Junior Livestock Committee, and all the volunteers, sponsors, parents, and buyers that made this year a big success.

— Olivia Cude, Middletown