By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
There is little doubt that Julie Hannan’s focus as Wood County Junior Fair coordinator is “for the kids.”
For the past four years, Wood County Fair time means her daughters become motherless—though supported by a great team of friends’ moms—while Hannan turns into “fair mom” to 52 junior fair board members and hundreds of other junior fair youths.
She’s responsible for making sure everything is set up and ready for the junior fair shows in the seven livestock areas throughout the eight-day fair. From ordering ribbons and trophies to finalizing pen tags and class lists, Hannan knows the success of the junior fair is in the details with much of it on her shoulders.
For everything she does and every decision she makes, the junior fair kids are front and center in her head and heart.
Admittedly, she doesn’t do any of it alone. She partners with many, but primarily the Wood County Extension Office and Wood County Senior Fair Board.
And she is endlessly grateful for Conni Grames, senior fair board director in charge of “the horse world” who is the yin to her yang as they work together with a designated senior fair committee to ensure everything junior fair-related is covered.
Year-long process
The heavy lift of the job is during Fair Week plus several days ahead of the fair and a couple of days after it ends. However, the job is a circle-of-life position that starts in the fall when her wards and worker bees are interviewed and selected to serve on the junior fair board. It starts over after the fair when the oldest members cycle off and the next round of interviews takes place.
In between, there is plenty to do to prepare for the next fair, she said. After the board is chosen, they meet regularly and hold department meetings for each species in the fall and winter.
“The meetings are open to the public and we welcome parents to come with their opinions and ideas,” she said. A lot of people have opinions and ideas, but they don’t share them until they want to point out what went wrong at a show. With plenty of opportunities to discuss ideas ahead of the fair, Hannan said, “They could have told us how we could do it better before the fair, or better yet, run for senior fair board.”
The spring is devoted to the process. She communicates with the FFA advisers to register chapter members and their projects and works with the extension office once 4-H registration is done in March.
Fair Entry, an online management tool for fairs, opens April 1, “and that’s when we’ve opened the gates” for members to enter details for each project. Checking registrations from April through June is hectic, she said.
When entries close on June 1, she tries to determine the classes in each of the shows, but often must add late entries or accommodate other changes that come about “before the mayhem of July,” she said.
Hannan implemented a back-up printed card system for those times when technology fails. “The cards have been a complete lifesaver at those you need to go back and check” on registration details, she said.
The final month before the fair includes mandatory workdays for the junior fair board members to get all the barns and pens spruced up, sanitized and set up across the fairgrounds.
A whole new world
Before she took the coordinator position after the COVID year fair, her 4-H involvement had been solely as a fair mom to her three girls. She grew up in a family of 10 in rural Wood County but was never in 4-H or anything related to raising livestock. Not until she and Nick, her farmer husband, had children, did 4-H enter into the picture.
“We’ve done a little bit of it all,” she said. “We started with birds, tried pigs, then did cattle and goats.” But when she took the coordinator position, she had no idea what the job entailed.
“As a parent who just brought their kids and projects to the fair, I didn’t know how much work went into putting the fair on, organizing it, and making sure the shows go smoothly,” she said.
She’s learned a lot in four years but admits she doesn’t know everything. Hannan often relies on senior fair board members and her junior fair kids “who are in the departments and know how those shows run.”
“Julie always responds right away if I text her with a question. She’ll tell me whether she will take care of it or if someone else knows more about it,” said Drew Gase, a third-year junior fair board member and a senior fair board representative. “She doesn’t give wrong answers, and she’s not scared to give you to someone else, which is important to me.”
The junior fair kids are so much fun, and they work so hard throughout the year, but especially during the fair, she said.
“I have grown a bond with so many of them, and they come back to volunteer with the board because they enjoy it.” They are truly a great group of kids who work tirelessly, Hannan added.
Flexibility is the key to success in the job. For example, they changed the way one of the shows ran this week “for the sake of the kids and the animals who were standing out in the heat. Sometimes people are OK with that and sometimes they’re not. But if you ask me anytime, I’ll tell you, ‘It’s what’s best for the kids,’” she said.
If there is an issue or a problem, she asks the parents or others to talk to her. “Don’t come screaming at me, because there are very few things that can’t be fixed,” she explained. “I don’t want kids crying for whatever reason. I want them to have the best experience and usually we can fix most problems.”
Another important aspect of her job is trying “to be the voice of reason for the average kid who doesn’t go to state fair or jackpot shows,” she said. “I try to just make it fair and fun, keeping in mind it is a country fair. I try to let those kids who go out back, raise their own and pick out the best one, to give them a fair shake.”
She also integrates her 12 years of education at Toledo Christian Schools to set a moral compass and “to always take the high road” for herself, her children and the junior fair board members.
“She always has our backs,” said Emma Ruffner, president of the junior fair board. “Julie is the person who we go to for problems. She does a great job of making sure she’s in the middle instead of us when parents are unhappy or getting upset with us.”
Parents often forget that junior fair board members are volunteers, Ruffner said. “She does a good job of reminding us, ‘Listen your job is not to deal with unhappy parents. That’s my job.’” she said. ”She’s a superstar”
Hannan also consistently reminds the members they have a duty to be good role models.
“We joke about our swear jar, but their job is to be better for the sake of the little kids,” she said, telling the junior fair board members, “They are watching you all the time. If you have a dirty, potty mouth, they are going to think it’s OK or cool.”
Her faith also helped her face a frightening cancer journey two years ago, when she was diagnosed with Stage 4, triple-negative breast cancer just as the fair was winding down.
She had her treatment and first surgery that fall and winter and never missed a beat or a fair. “I don’t know how I got through last year’s fair; I don’t remember most of it,” she said.
Though she knew she managed thanks to the support through the ordeal of family, Grames, parents and the entire community.
Hannan said the job was a good thing. “I didn’t have a choice. I had to get up, get out of bed and go to work to get this done, because, there are a thousand kids who are relying on me to make sure the fair is good,” she said. “I relied on that mentality to just keep going for the kids.”
The support continued into this year’s fair, she said. It’s common for the junior fair board members to look out for her by bringing her food for energy and her beloved coffee drinks to sustain her throughout the long days. Junior Fair Board Vice President Mallory Kramer even did her laundry, knowing Hannan could not go home for chores.
“I’m only one person and a behind-the-scenes person,” she said. The Wood County Fair is often referred to by the people who judge the livestock shows as “one of the best fairs in the state because it runs smoothly and is so organized,” she said. “Wood County’s reputation is a huge testament to the kids and the work they put in.”
