Weeks have passed since the 2023 Wayne County Fair; the hustle and bustle has calmed down on the fairgrounds now. Families have unpacked and cleaned their tack boxes, cleaned out their campers, Extension staff has unpacked and have collected the 4-H/FFA exhibitors’ “Thank You” cards for the buyers of their livestock projects. We require our exhibitors to write their buyer a ‘Thank You’ card in order to receive their livestock auction checks that will soon be on the way.                                                                                                                                                  

Wayne County is very blessed with many businesses and individual families that come out to support our youth livestock and dairy exhibitors. In 2022, if you remember, we were blown away by their support with an auction total of $1,694,201. This total is a combination of the dollars that were bid for the purchase of animals ($1,635,165) and the add-on monies ($59,036). That was a big deal, we were so overwhelmed with the big support of our county.

Now here we are in 2023 with another record! The grand total for the 2023 Wayne County Junior Fair auction is $1,950,875; that is a 12% jump from last year. The amount bid for the purchase of animals was $1,851,390 while the add-ons number jumped to $99,485. Once again, we’ve been overwhelmed by the support of our local community - businesses and families that come to the auctions on Wednesday and Thursday of the fair. The 2023 Dairy Products auction total is $52,650, which is also a 12% increase over the 2022 total of $46,078.

A big jump we are seeing is the number of add-ons to the exhibitors’ auction checks. This year we saw a 40% jump in add-on monies given to our exhibitors. What is an add-on you might ask. Buyers have an option to put extra money (add-on) onto an exhibitor’s auction check. The buyer may not have been able to purchase the exhibitor’s animal, but they still wanted to support that exhibitor, so they have the option to fill out an add-on form and give an extra amount to the exhibitor.

We have many top buyers that are big supporters of our county including:  Clothing Warehouse Everything Surplus, K & M Builders, Last Arrow Manufacturing, Ashland Pump, Pallotta Ford Lincoln, Morris Oil Co LLC, Kimble Recycling and Disposal, CRW Freight Management Services Inc, SH Distributing. Other big supporters of our 4-H exhibitors are Catalpadale/Bristol/ Zido Valley Dairies, 3-D Meats, Joyride Transport, Gerber Feed Service, Sugar Bridge Farm, Hagen Well Service, Leppo Rents, Apple Creek Banking Company, Seaman Corporation and B & K Concrete Construction. These are just a few of the top buyers; there are more than 925 registered buyers and buyer groups. Each year we post a list of the buyers that bought market projects on our website for the exhibitors to find their buyer and any add-ons to make out their ‘Thank You’ cards. We are so blessed here in Wayne County and are grateful for all the support for our 4-H/FFA youth exhibitors.

This article was previously pucblished in The Daily Record.