Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, August 14, 2014

Ringgold County Veteran's Affairs makes its presence at the Iowa State Fair Monday, August 11 at the Veterans Day parade. VA commissioner Charlie Case and his wife Diane are number 58 of 125 entries in the parade. Charlie's tractor was one of two tractors. Also attending from Ringgold County were VSO Dennis Adkisson, commissioners Lyle Minnick, Bob Creveling and Shirley Wallace. According to Col. Robert King, MC for the parade, "This is one of the largest parades he has announced in 22 years."

 Ringgold County Queen Kaitlyn Klommhaus, 17, of Mount Ayr, is introduced during the Iowa State Fair Queen Coronation Ceremony on the Anne and Bill Riley Stage at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 9.

(Iowa State Fair/Steve Pope Photography)

Haylea England, 15, of Mount Ayr, performs a tap dance routine during the Bill Riley Talent Search at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 7.

(Iowa State Fair/Steve Pope Photography)

The annual Twins, Triplets and More contest was held on the opening day of the Iowa State Fair last week. Jillian and Tessa Kniep (center), daughters of Clint and Shaun Kniep of Mount Ayr, won the 9-11 year old Least Alike competition. This is the third year in a row they have won. They are shown with the 9-11 Most Alike twins, Bailey and Bella Buerger, of Mitchellville.

Results for local competitors at the Iowa State Fair are beginning to come in.

Cooking

Pamela Cooper of Mount Ayr won first place in two competitions at the fair. She placed first in the honey cornbread division of the Foods Made with Honey contest and first place in the Spice It Up with Pampered Chef competition.

Also in the Foods Made with Honey competition, Judy Kiburz-Harrison of Mount Ayr received honorable mention in the honey chocolate chip cookies and honey cookies divisions.

Duck Calling

Brady Bickel of Diagonal received third place in the duck calling contest for ages 4-16.

For contestants age 17 and older, Joe Ruth of Mount Ayr placed third and Joe Warin of Maloy came in fourth.

Coloring Contest

Ryce Reynolds of Mount Ayr placed second in the 7-8 year-old division in the state fair coloring contest.

FFA Breeding Beef

Katelyn Holmes of Benton won champion all other breeds bull at the FFA Breeding Beef show.

FFA Horse Show

Morgan Quick of Redding won reserve champion in the flag race.

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, August 21, 2014

Elsie Shafer of Mount Ayr represented Ringgold County well at the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation's state barbeque contest at the Iowa State Fair on August 12. Shafer competed in the poultry division, youth division and showmanship and brought home second place in both the poultry overall and the youth category.

Shafer qualified for the annual contest by winning the "Wings for Charity" contest at the Smokin' in the Ayr BBQ contest during Ayr Days in July. By winning, she was able to enter her Shoyu chicken wing recipe and skills at the Iowa State Fair. She competed against eight other adult cooks in the poultry division and won second place over all. In the youth category, she competed against three other youth cooks who were all cooking pork. She placed second there as well.

Shafer's recipe had a Hawaiian flare to it. For the showmanship competition, Shafer complemented her dish with a side of blue cheese coleslaw and a spicy fruit salsa and lime chips. Her cuisine was displayed on a table decorated like a luau.

"I am so glad I could represent the county at the state fair," said Shafer. "There was a lot of work put into it, especially by my grandpa." She also noted that several Ringgold county fairgoers were on hand to support her during the competition.

After the competition, Shafer served extra wings and her side dishes to the public. Many came back for seconds.

Pictured at left: Farm Bureau president Craig Hill, Elsie Shafer and Iowa State Fair Queen Izzy Glover appear at the awards stand after Elsie's pair of second-place finishes at the Iowa State Fair.

Results for local competitors at the Iowa State Fair continue to be released.

Quilting

Marilyn Sudduth of Mount Ayr came in fourth in the pieced-from-a-traditional-pattern division in the quilting competition.

Cattle

Willis Show Cattle of Diagonal placed in four events at the Iowa State Fair. In the Beef Feeder Calf show they exhibited the Champion Commercial Heifer and placed first in the Crossbred Steer division. They came in fourth in the Junior Heifer Calf division of the Top Chianina Farms show and grabbed the fifth spot in the Top Five Head Breeding Heifers competition.

Holmes Cattle Company of Benton placed second in the Angus Heifer division of the Beef Feeder Calf show.

In the Gelbvieh Cattle show, McCreary and McCreary of Mount Ayr showed the reserve champion bull. They also placed first in the Late Spring Heifer Yearling division, second in the Early Junior Yearling Bull division, fourth in the Early Spring Junior Bull Calf division, fourth in the junior get of sire division, fifth in the pair of calves division and seventh in the best four head competition.

Cooking and Baking

Judy Kiburz-Harrison of Mount Ayr placed in five different cooking and baking events and received one honorable mention at the Iowa State Fair. She grabbed first place in the Breads and Rolls division and received an honorable mention for pumpkin bread. In the Baking with Sorghum division , she placed second in the Danish Desserts and Prized Pumpkin Recipes categories. Kiburz-Harrison also placed second for her pumpkin date bread.

In the desserts competition, Kiburz-Harrison placed first in the chocolate chip cookies and cookies-not-named divisions. She placed second with oatmeal drop and gingersnaps. She also placed second in the Dried Fruits contest.

Pamela Cooper of Mount Ayr also placed in a number of contests. She brought home first place in the Chocolate A-Fair contest. She won third in the Unique Use of Chocolate division, where participants were asked to create a salad, main dish, dessert, soup or appetizer utilizing chocolate or cocoa. Cooper also took home second place in the Quiche Division.

In the Land O' Lakes Butter Cookie competition, Hester Derscheid of Ellston received an honorable mention.

Clothing

In the Marvelous Hats Contest, Nadine Dryer of Ellston came in fourth place in the Wild or Wacky division.

Pedal Pull

In the four-year-old girls' division of the pedal pull, Claire Routh of Mount Ayr placed first with two full pulls.

In the nine-year-old boys' division, Jacob Novak of Diagonal came in fifth place with a pull of 31 feet and eight inches.

Decorated diapers

Turner Larsen, 10 months, of Clearfield, Tyce Parrish, 2 1/2 months, of Diagonal and Crew Larsen, 4 months, of Clearfield, placed first in the group theme division as Future Clearfield Lions.

Entries in the Decorated Diapers contest were judged on originality, creativity, appeal and overall effect.

Goats

Megan Reasoner of Ellston walked away with several awards from the State Fair Goat Show.

She exhibited the junior champion and reserve champion in the grade division and the junior champion in the Nubian division. She also received the reserve champion FFA showman award.

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, August 28, 2014

State Fair results continue to come in every day.

Horse

Chania Vos of Ellston received a blue ribbon for her ranch horse in the 7-8 grades class.

Swine

Caroline McAlexander of Ellston brought home five blue ribbons in the swine contests at the Iowa State Fair. She won the Yorkshire Market Hogs, Medium Weight Market Gilts and Medium Weight Market Barrows. In the Breeding Swine division McAlexander won a blue ribbon for commercial gilts. In the Swine Showmanship category, she also brought home a blue ribbon in the seventh and eighth grade classes.

Tyler Triggs of Mount Ayr claimed a blue ribbon in the Breeding Swine division for a commercial guilt and grabbed a blue ribbon for showmanship in grades nine to twelve.

Beef

In the Beef Showmanship competition Cassidy Becker of Diagonal received a purple ribbon for Reserve Champion in the ninth and tenth grades, and Haylea England won a purple ribbon in the same class.

Addie Ebersole of Kellerton and Caylie Hickman of Mount Ayr won blue ribbons for grades seven through eight.

Jolene Ebersole of Kellerton, Ryker Hickman of Mount Ayr, Makayla Jones of Tingley and Cole Mobley of Diagonal won blue ribbons for grades five through six.

Brynn Nickle of Clearfield received a purple ribbon for grades five through six.

Breeding Beef

In the breeding beef category, Cassidy Becker and Cole Mobley of Diagonal won purple ribbons in the Angus division, and Addie Ebersole of Kellerton received a purple ribbon in the Shorthorn plus division. Jolene Ebersole of Kellerton received the blue ribbon and Hayle England of Mount Ayr and Brynn Nickle of Clearfield both grabbed the purple in the Maintainer class.

In the Semmental class, Caylie and Ryker Hickman, both of Mount Ayr, received purple ribbons, as did Makayla Jones of Tingley.

Market Beef

Hagan Willis of Diagonal brought home the blue ribbon in the crossbred steer division of the market beef category.

4-H Building Exhibit

Hallie Still of Mount Ayr won two blue ribbons, and Jake Burton of Mount Ayr brought home one blue ribbon in the environment and sustainability exhibit. Cal Daughton of Kellerton received the red ribbon in the same competition.

Hannah Jackson of Benton, Haylea England and Jamie Stackhouse of Mount Ayr received blue ribbons in the photography exhibit, while Ann Shervheim of Redding took home the red ribbon.

Anne James of Mount Ayr won a blue ribbon in Visual Arts, and Grant Anderson of Ellston brought home the red in the same exhibit.

In Food and Nutrition, Hallee Stewart and Kirsten Dolecheck, both of Mount Ayr, were awarded blue ribbons with Dolecheck receiving two. Nathan Shervheim of Redding and Brook Rychnovsky of Diagonal received a red. Rychnovsky also brought home a red in the Self-Determination category as did Haylea England of Mount Ayr.

In the Education Presentation, Samantha Shaefer and Hannah Jackson both received recognition for their cinnamon twists.

Dogs

Bob Johnson of Tingley took fifth and eighth in the Open Cattle category of the dog contest and in the sheep division placed fourth and tenth.

Mark Triggs of Mount Ayr came in fifth place in the Ranch Cattle division and 12th in the ranch sheep division.

Swine

Triggs Show Pigs of Mount Ayr was awarded Grand Champion Gilt. In the Duroc Swine Show, Triggs Show Pigs also won second and third for their gilts and had a third-place finish in the Boars division.

Sheep

Matthew Weeda of Mount Ayr placed eighth and ninth in the Black Face Ram 163 pounds to 176.5 pounds category. In the Black Face Ram Lamb 185 pounds and up division, Weeda placed ninth.

For many years the name Judy Kiburz-Harrison has been synonymous with award-winning baking at the Iowa State Fair, and this year the tradition continued.

Kiburz-Harrison won 12 first place awards, 13 second-place ribbons, seven third-place awards and five honorable mentions during the fair. In addition her entries were named reserved sweepstakes winners in both the Midwest Living cookies and Make It With Lard competitions.

In the Make It With Lard competition, her entries placed first and second overall in the desserts division and first place overall in the quick breads division.

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, October 02, 2014

It was another successful year at the Iowa State Fair for Tyler (shown above), Johnathan and Kevin Triggs as they exhibited the Grand Champion Spotted Gilt.

Photographs courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2014; October of 2014