By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
All eight days of the Wood County Fair are filled with livestock shows, demonstrations, exhibits and events.
Tucked into many of the activities is a slice of education. It might be lessons learned from working on junior fair projects or raising animals to show at the fair, or fair visitors who talk to exhibitors, listen to demonstrations and pick up informational materials at a booth often gain new insights.
At this year’s fair, a little more education has been deliberately integrated into some of the children’s activities, said Jessica Nagel, fair board director.
“With three active teachers and one retired teacher on the fair board, we put our heads together and decided we wanted to focus children’s activities on education,” she said.
Activities such as the 2 p.m. story time (Monday through Friday) in the Fine Arts Building shares books based in agriculture because the fair is an agricultural fair.
Santa Claus was the featured reader for Monday’s Christmas on the farm storybook. Other themes included donkeys and flying turkeys. Yet to come are books that feature a cow that thinks it’s a unicorn and pumpkins.
The lessons continue after the reading. Because the teacher team “wanted the activities to be interactive and promote learning,” Nagel said they added an easy craft that ties into the book.
Children who attend the reading also get a free copy of the book thanks to book sponsors, the Clover Legacy 4-H Foundation and Stuff to Do Travel.
The storytime corner also has a color wall mostly, but not exclusively, for children.
“We got that idea at the Ohio Fair Managers Association Conference in January,” she said. Before traveling back to Wood County from Columbus, she and Melissa Leimgruber stopped at IKEA where they serendipitously found a coloring wall mural and a giant cardboard space rocket that fit the 2024 theme of “Be a Star at the Wood. County Fair.”
The kids’ activities in the Free Tent have combined fun and education, as well, Nagel said. The Christmas in July theme carried over to the Free Tent on Monday with ornament-making and cookie-decorating activities for kids of all ages.
Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) Day on Wednesday hosted by Penta Career Center representatives, had a host of career exploration, science and art activities.
WC Hospital nursing station dispenses cool air and education
Education is also part of Wood County Hospital’s grandstand booth and baby rest area. The grandstand booth offers health education, blood pressure screening, skin cancer screening, giveaways and information on their services.
In the air-conditioned Pratt Pavilion, the hospital hosts a baby rest area.
Dawn Miller, a nurse in the family birthing center at the hospital said the baby rest area provides an infant changing station, private nursing area and car seat education.
The hospital has hosted a nursing station at the fair for 17 years. Initially, it was part of the hospital’s booth under the grandstand. There was privacy, but no air conditioning. When the Pratt Pavilion opened, the baby rest area was moved to the air-conditioned space, Miller said.
The changing table and the private nursing area are a popular stop for babies and their parents.
“We average about 30 babies a day coming in for nursing and diaper changes,” she said. “We also use it as an opportunity to educate about car seat safety.”
“Approximately nine out of 10 car seats are improperly installed,” said Jody Stein, a technician who helps oversee the car seat education.
The hospital offers to check car seats free of charge to make sure they are safely installed in cars. The service is offered to all families who deliver babies at the hospital, but they also offer it to WIC and Medicaid-eligible families by appointment by calling 419-354-8932.
Stein handed out free car seat stickers that allow families to list contact information and any other pertinent information on the sticker that adheres to the car seat. The stickers are helpful for emergency professionals to know who to contact if the child is separated from the driver.
Information about the recently designed Roth ID Tag, an emergency identification system for children involved in accidents, is also available in the baby rest space. In addition to emergency contact information, the tag has additional space for medical conditions, allergies or if the child is nonverbal, Stein said.
“Knowing immediately of a medical condition or allergy can be the difference between life and death,” she said.
Shoes share a sad statistic
On the north side of the fairgrounds on a grassy knoll sit piles of red shoes and regular-colored shoes.
The red shoes represent the number of people who have died on Wood County roads in the past 12 months. The regular-colored shoes represent injury accidents.
There are also signs and a wreath that designates 28 people have died on Wood County roads.
The number is staggering, said Sandra Wiechman, coordinator for Safe Communities of Wood County.
“That is two more than last year at this time and one since the start of the fair,” she said. “Last year was bad, but this year is horrible. I’m just heartbroken.” Every day there seems to be a serious crash.
The Look Twice-Save a Life campaign this year is in memory of Craig Kleine, a close friend of Wiechman’s who died in September from injuries sustained when he was driving a motorcycle and a driver failed to yield at a stop sign.
The biggest issue is distracted driving, she said. That doesn’t necessarily mean that people are on their phones, “though there’s no doubt people are still doing that,” she said.
“People tell me they don’t drive distracted,” but they don’t always stop and look twice at a stop sign, or they fail to yield. “You have to be 110 percent on your game when driving.”
Driving down the road thinking of something else, not wearing seat belts, speeding, and driving impaired are major contributors to fatal and injury accidents she said.
“We need to do better,” she said. ”I hope this display is a conversation starter.” There also is an exhibit next to the Fraternal Order of Police building that offers informational materials, tips and giveaways.
