UNION CITY, Ind. – The Mississinawa Valley-MVCTC FFA chapter held its 50th annual Fall Fair on Oct. 3. There was a great interest in the chicken and ham dinners this year, and the chapter sold over 1,800 dinners. Each meal consisted of a chicken half or two slices of ham, applesauce, green beans, bake potato, roll, a drink, and pie. The meal is prepared entirely by the student members of the chapter along with some help from the Mississinawa Valley Cafeteria Staff and FFA alumni members, Jeff Keller and Kyle Beuter. Every year, the chapter works hard to make their Fall Fair a success.
Since Fall Fair has been around for 50 years, the chapter decided to bring back some events and add some new ones. The FFA Alumni hosted a kiddie tractor pull along with a bounce house outside. Winners of the kiddie tractor pull were: Jayde Oswalt ages 3 & 4, Easton Gower ages 5 & 6, and Michael Byram ages 7 & 8.
There were old scrapbooks, articles, trophies, pictures throughout the years, and stories from alumni about past Fall Fairs. The chapter held a scarecrow contest for K-12 and the Business Professionals of American held a silent auction. To celebrate the 50th Fall Fair every 50th dinner served received a t-shirt with the saying “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner, 50 Years of Fall Fair Dinners.”
Like in years past, each FFA member brought in exhibits that were judged and displayed in the Ag shop for the community to come and check out. The different categories of items included: hay, grain, flowers, eggs, fruits, vegetables, baked goods, and shop items. The most points earned in each category were awarded as follows: Shop: Jacob Dircksen, Flowers: Leevi Ward, Baked Goods: Brianna Fennig, Vegetables: Brianna Fennig, Grain: Jacob Dircksen, Hay: Blayne Johnson, Fruit: Kennedy Stachler, Eggs: Thomas Gower, Canned Goods: Jacob Dircksen, and the overall winners were 1st place Brianna Fennig, 2nd place Jacob Dircksen, and 3rd place Kennedy Stachler.
Some of the community members helped judge our Fall Fair items. The judges included: Jeff Keller and Kyle Beuter who judged shop items, Aislinn Miller, Jodi Humphries, Sandy Grim who judged baked goods, Sara Stocksdale who judged flowers, painted and carved pumpkins, Paul Armstrong who judged vegetables and fruit, Rachel Carlisee who judged eggs, Lois Benneder who judged canned goods, and Tom Harrod who judged the grain and hay classes. The MV FFA would like to thank all of the judges for spending their time helping us out and making our Fall Fair possible every year.
Also, a special thank you to members – without their hard work and participation they would not be able to hold this event. Also a big thank you goes out to Cal Maine for donating boxes.
The Mississinawa Valley- MVCTC Agriculture Program is a satellite of Miami Valley Career Technology Center.
Taylor Stachler, reporter
