Animals, awards, royalty and skillet throwing: Ashland County Fair off to a rousing start

Tom E. Puskar, Ashland Times Gazette
·2 min read

The 171st Ashland County Fair opened on Sunday with a ceremony in the Spidel Entertainment Pavilion.

Retired Ashland County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Carl Richert and retired fair employee Patricia Dean were honored with lifetime achievement passes for free entry, presented by fair board President Marty Wesner.

Ashland County Fair Board directors lead the opening ceremony at the 171st fair on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.
Ashland County Fair Board directors lead the opening ceremony at the 171st fair on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.

Cathy Rice, fair office manager and Barry Litten, maintenance director, told about the improvements made to the fairgrounds and new events being offered this year. Rice also announced the annual Senior Fair king and queen contest that was to be held Tuesday has been canceled.

2021 Fair Director of the Year Barry Litten introduced this year's award winner, which is Cathy Rice. With the retirement of Fair Manager Steve Englet after last year's fair, the board split the duties between Rice and Litten giving each additional responsibilities, which they have handled well, according to Wesner.

Ashland County Junior Fair royalty announced

The 2022 Ashland County Junior Fair royalty was announced on Sunday. Zoie Gaus is princess, Linde Hahn is queen, Gabe Murawski claimed the king's title and Vincent Scalesi was named prince.
The 2022 Ashland County Junior Fair royalty was announced on Sunday. Zoie Gaus is princess, Linde Hahn is queen, Gabe Murawski claimed the king's title and Vincent Scalesi was named prince.

The Junior Fair king and queen contest was also held Sunday with Mayor Matt Miller emceeing. Gabe Murawski and Linde Hahn were crowned the 2022 Ashland County Junior Fair king and queen, respectively, with Zoie Gaus being crowned princess and Vincent Scalesi crowned prince.

The Junior Fair livestock shows also started on Sunday with the market steer and poultry shows. This year's poultry show took on a different look since the exhibitors were not able to bring their birds due to an avian flu outbreak in Ashland County.

Stuffed poultry sit in a cage before the judging of the Junior Fair poultry show at the Ashland County Fair on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. Due to the bird flu, exhibitors were not permitted to bring live projects.
Stuffed poultry sit in a cage before the judging of the Junior Fair poultry show at the Ashland County Fair on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. Due to the bird flu, exhibitors were not permitted to bring live projects.

This year the judging was done by age divisions of senior, intermediate and junior.

The exhibitors were judged based on an interview, with the judge accessing their knowledge of their projects. The top two exhibitors in each age division then were brought back to assign the final placing, however there were no grand or reserve champions awarded this year.

Emily Croft competes in the women's skillet throw in the Coliseum at the Ashland County Fair on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. TOM E. PUSKAR/ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE
Emily Croft competes in the women's skillet throw in the Coliseum at the Ashland County Fair on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. TOM E. PUSKAR/ASHLAND TIMES-GAZETTE

Other events that took place Sunday included the parade of bands, women's skillet throw, kiddie tractor pull and the OSTPA tractor pull.

The fair runs through Saturday, Sept. 24, culminating with the demolition derby at 6pm.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: 2022 Ashland County Fair opens with animals, awards, bands & fun