MARTINSBURG - For the 60th year, youth and adults will showcase their agricultural achievements at this week's Morrisons Cove Dairy Show.
The show, running Monday through Saturday at The Park at Morrisons Cove, will have activities for everyone, Dairy Show Association Secretary Thomas Ritchey said. It will include baked goods and vegetables and ice cream eating and pedal tractor pull contests in addition to the different divisions of dairy show judging.
"We should have a good show again this year," Ritchey said.
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Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
Caleb McGee of Clearfield cleans up the ear tab on Nessie, a fall calf, in preparation of the 2009 Morrisons Cove Dairy Show junior showmanship contest.
There are 275 animals signed up so far, Ritchey said, adding that's down slightly but "probably par for the course this year."
Dairy Show Board Member Vickie Roudabush said the smaller show will still be a good representation of the strong dairy industry in the Cove area.
"If you can do well at the Morrisons Cove show, you can usually go on and do really well at any of the shows," Roudabush said, noting that in the past, many of the award-winning cattle locally make it to state and national-level shows, as well.
Fact Box
Schedule of events
The 60th Morrisons Cove Dairy Show will take place Monday through Friday at the Park at Morrisons Cove in Martinsburg:
Monday: Junior showmanship contest 7 p.m.
Tuesday: Blair/Bedford 4-H/FFA junior dairy show 8:30 a.m.; ice cream eating contest and milk drinking contest 7:30 p.m.; youth dairy judging contest 9 p.m.
Wednesday: Open colored breeds show 8:30 a.m.; pie and ice cream festival and pedal tractor pull for children 7 p.m.
Thursday: Open red/white and Holstein shows 8:30 a.m.
Friday: Southwest district junior dairy show 8:30 a.m.
Saturday: Open horse show 9 a.m.
In honor of the 60th anniversary celebration, all dairy exhibitors will be given a commemorative mug and other items sponsored by Clearfield Bank & Trust Co.
Tuesday's events will include an ice cream eating contest with a two-person team, one of whom is blindfolded, feeding the other person. "It gets pretty funny," Roudabush said.
A milk drinking contest also will take place Tuesday evening, with four people drinking milk in different ways; a regular carton, with a straw, using a spoon and through a baby bottle or sippie cup.
Wednesday night's pie and ice cream social fundraiser typically brings out several hundred people, Roudabush said.
"It always amazes us how long the line gets," she said.
Recent years have seen "fairly stable attendance," Ritchey said, with a good mix of local and out-of-area attendees.
The event, which costs about $25,000 to run, will be hit hard by cuts in state funding, effecting future years more so than this year, Ritchey said.
Last year, the show received only 65 percent of what it was typically given, and that amount looks to decrease even further this year. Premium payments alone cost more than $10,000, Ritchey said.
"This year, we'll be OK," Ritchey said. "Next year will be a real struggle. We will definitely have to be creative next year. Cuts in funding are definitely catching up on us."
One of the changes in future years could be doing away with district shows for 4-H members, Roudabush said.
"That will change some of the dynamics of our show," she said. "A lot of it depends on the money."
On Saturday, the dairy show association will sponsor a 4-H and open horse show beginning at 9 a.m. Most dairy show competitions begin at 8:30 a.m. daily, with Monday's junior showmanship contest taking place at 7 p.m. Monday.
Mirror Staff Writer Wendy Zook is at 946-7520.
