Cream puffs & kids Dewine opens his first Ohio State Fair as governor
Mike Dewine looked right at home amid the sheep, cattle and deepfried everything as he opened his first Ohio State Fair as governor on Wednesday morning.
He grew up amid the farm fields of Greene County in his family’s seed business, and his eight children raised and showed 4-H sheep for a span covering 34 years.
The Republican in his first year as governor sprinted with wife Fran down the midway at the state fairgrounds, greeting vendors at Tracy’s Corn Dogs and Inky Dinky Donuts and sharing a Schmidt’s cream puff with two of his grandchildren.
Dewine chatted with a NASA astronaut while looking at the butter rendition of the first man on the moon, Ohioan Neil Armstrong.
And, in a chance meeting, Dewine exchanged words and a hug with a mother whose 18-yearold son was killed when the Fire Ball amusement ride fell apart at the fair two years ago come Friday.
“I think about families, all the kids in 4-H,” Dewine said of the 166th annual celebration of Ohio agriculture in a year in which wet fields have delayed planting and wrecked farmer finances. “It’s to showcase the state of Ohio, an opportunity to brag a bit.”
In addition to the cream puff, Dewine and family sampled ice cream, and he promised the grandchildren a ride on the sedate, refurbished Skyglider chairlift ride.
The governor wandered the sheep and cattle barns, talking with 4-H children and farmers, one of whom reported “a lot of empty fields” in his neck of Ohio.
At the iconic butter cow display, joined this year by butter likenesses of the Apollo 11 astronauts in honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, Dewine posed for photos with astronaut Sunita Williams.
“It’s pretty cool,” Williams, a native of Euclid who has flown on the space shuttle and lived on the International Space Station, said of the display.
“It’s the appropriate year to acknowledge the contributions (to space exploration) from this state,” she said. NASA has a “Moon and Back” display in the Bricker Building featuring Apollo artifacts.
At the Taste of Ohio Cafe, where the first lady worked with kids in a pizza-making demonstration, the governor bumped into Amber Duffield.
They chatted about her son Tyler Jarrell, who died in the Fire Ball tragedy, and she briefly asked Dewine to support “Tyler’s Law” — House Bill 189 — to improve amusement ride inspection and safety. She also showed the governor two lockets around her neck, one bearing Tyler’s photo and the other some strands of his hair.
Duffield said she is pleased with steps taken to improve ride safety at the Ohio State Fair but says more must be done. She remains a supporter of the event, though, saying it is an important Ohio tradition. “It’s been beautifully awful,” she said.
While Dewine admits he is not a fan of amusement rides, he is “convinced” the rides lining the Ohio State Fair midway are safe.
Although two-term Gov. John Kasich declined to do so, the Dewines also planned to renew the tradition started by Gov. James A. Rhodesof staying overnight at the fair. The Dewines are scheduled to tour livestock barns on Thursday before attending a campfire at the Natural Resources Park, where they will stay the night.
The fair at the Ohio Expo Center will continue through Aug. 4.