Published: March 26, 2008 12:46 am            

County fair committee plays award-winning role

Trophies. Belt buckles. Ribbons. Plaques. Banners.

The number and types of awards presented during the 10-day run of the Walker County Fair are numerous.

Even Awards Committee chair Mary Stowe would not estimate how many awards they were sorting on several tables Tuesday night prior to the start of the Committeeman’s Barbecue at the fairgrounds.

Stowe and her son, Jason Peck, inventoried and then boxed an assortment of awards for committee chairmen to pick up after the dinner.

The 2008 fair officially starts at 8 a.m. Friday, but unofficially gets under way at 7 p.m. Thursday with the fair parade that travels south on Sam Houston Avenue and then west on 11th Street.

More than 50 entries are expected to be showcased in the fair.

The fair continues through April 5 while the Top Hand Award winner will be announced April 6 following cleanup.

Stowe said the sponsoring county fair association spends $10,000 to $12,000 per year on awards presented to top finishers in each event.

“We have been doing this for about eight years,” Stowe said. “It stays just about the same every day. A lot of the groups turn in the same order from the year before.

“We do have changes in some of the groups. Some have grown, some have gotten smaller, but they still average out close to the same.”

Stowe said Sam Houston State University alumnus Jeff McKnight of Superior Trophy in New Caney delivered the awards Thurday.

“I went through all of the plaques and ribbons and sorted them ahead of time,” she said. “They them here to the fairgrounds and all I have to do go through the trophies because they take up so much room.”

Stowe said each committee will inventory the awards received “to make sure they got all they ordered and the names are spelled correctly.”

“If there are any problems, they call and get those later on,” she said. “This takes a lot of planning but we have worked with Superior for numerous years. He knows what we order. We change it a little from year to year.

“We usually put the fair theme on each one if there is room.”

Stowe said her job with the fair, for the most part, is completed with distribution of the awards “unless somebody needs an extra plaque.”

She begins ordering the awards at least month before the Committeeman’s Barbecue “so they can be made and delivered. We try to make the awards nice so the kids will like them.”

        

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