I hope the trend to make county fairs more modern and relevant doesn't go too far:
"The idea that 4-H is focused on corn and cows for farm kids is a myth," said Maggie McKinnies of the Hamilton County Extension Office.Children participating in county fairs today are just as likely to be using a computer for a project as they are to be working with animals.Along those lines, Hamilton County added a Microsoft PowerPoint class to this year's county fair, which ended Monday. McKinnies said several 4-H students had asked for the session, which teaches children how to use technology in real-life situations."In real life, people giving presentations are expected to have a visual component, not just stand up and speak," she said.Modernizing fairs to include technology is one way to make fairs an integral part of the community, organizers said.
OK, there aren't as many kids living on the farm as there used to be. But one of the main benefits of the fairs has been to show the cows and the corn to city folks, especially kids, who think all our food comes from the supermarket, already wrapped when it gets there. The further we get from our rural roots, the more value there is in reminding people of them. No need to make the kiddies watch someone wring the neck of a chicken (one of my early childhood memories), but it wouldn't traumatize them too much to see a cow being milked.
