BY REBECCA FRENCH SMITH
It always seems like summer is over too quickly. I spend much of the winter and spring longing for warmer days. Once summer is here though, it’s gone. But right now, we have one last hurrah before school starts, the days start turning cooler and harvest begins — the Missouri State Fair.
The State Fair is always an adventure. While the midway is fun, the State Fair is more than carnival lights, cotton candy and Tilt-A-Whirls. It’s more than ham and vegetable contests. Tractor pulls and bulls. Pumpkins and poultry. Hogs and corn dogs. Vendor deals and Ferris wheels. Beyond the contests and attractions, some people are there all fair-goers should meet: the farmers who raise and grow our food. If you visit the fair and miss meeting a farmer, your trip is most assuredly not all that it could have been.
There are a few spots at the fair that will guarantee a farmer spotting.
When you’re in the swine pavilion, stop and ask a young 4-Her how she did. Ask her how she came to be at the fair with her pigs.
When you’re in the cattle barns, ask the FFA students to tell you about their animals. You might even see a few of them washing their cattle to show. They not only take care of their animals at the fair but also at home on the farm.
When you’re in the Mathewson Exhibition Center watching the competitions, remember to cheer loudly. All of the competitors have worked hard to be there.
And when you tour the vegetable exhibits in the Agriculture Building, stop and take time to appreciate the true skill it takes to grow a blue ribbon pumpkin that weighs as much as fully grown men. Or the attention it takes to cultivate winning heirloom tomatoes. You might even discover a few vegetable varieties you had no idea existed.
Growing and raising food is a skill perfected over time, with much diligence and great passion. At the Missouri State Fair, we all have the opportunity to discover, appreciate and celebrate the agriculture tradition in the Show Me State. Won’t you come? There are some farmers to meet.
Rebecca French Smith, of Columbia, Mo., is a multimedia specialist for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.