Porteus named Showman of Showmen winner
Elizabeth Porteus is pictured receiving her Showman of Showmen award from 2014 Junior Fair Queen Katricia Phillips. This is the second year of the contest at the Coshocton County Fair. For more photos of the event and participants, please visit www.coshoctonbeacontoday.com (Beacon photo by Mark Fortune)
COSHOCTON COUNTY FAIR – Elizabeth Porteus, a member of Winner 4-H Club, won the Second annual Showman of Showmen contest at the Coshocton County Fair on Wednesday evening, Oct. 1.
The contest pits each overall Grand Champion Showman in the animal species and each youth takes a turn showing different animals. This included: Turkey, rabbit, guinea pig, beef feeder, dairy, hog, sheep, pygmy goat, horse and llama. The group of youth started out in Hunter Arena with llama, horse and hog then made their way to the Junior Fair Arena for pygmy goat, rabbit, turkey and guinea pig. Then it was on to the dairy barn for a crack at a beef feeder calf and a dairy cow. The awards and final results were announced back in Hunter Arena where each participant was given a chair by Jenny Strickler of OSU Extension and the event organizer.
Porteus, who made the round of 10 last year, had prepared herself for this year’s contest. Porteus said, “It’s the best feeling ever. Coming into my first year I was trying to get the feel of and know what to do. Having that year really helped me a lot. This has been my best fair yet.”
Porteus said the most challenging species was, “Probably the guinea pig and either the rabbit or the poultry because it’s a lot of knowledge questions.”
The beef judge asked each participant this question, “How many steers are born in the U.S. each year?” Porteus was not swayed by the trick question, responding with, “None because steers aren’t born.”
“I’m glad I had that knowledge.”
Of the large species to show, Porteus said the hardest was, “Probably the llama because I’ve never been up to a llama, I’ve just seen it at the fair. That’s the closest I’ve come to a llama. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be – they’re fairly close to showing a calf or a horse, the same as a large animal.”
Porteus said, “I’ve asked questions about the other species this year but didn’t actually practice with any of them. It was tough showing against the champion showman of the other species, sometimes you don’t get to watch them first. You ask yourself, “Do you do this or do you do that?” You just don’t how you’re going to compare to them.”
Porteus said this about the $200 award she won, “I’ll probably put it into my college savings.”
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