Richmond Fair: It's all for the kids

For one Richmond man, the fair is all about the children.

“Everything’s focused on the kids. Life is all about these kids — helping them learn and grow,” George Steinberger said.

Steinberger, who owns Homestead Ranch, just west of Richmond, has been involved with youth rodeo for more than 30 years and has organized the Cowboy Olympics, mutton busting and pony bronc riding events at the Richmond Free Fair, since he moved to Richmond about eight years ago from Johnson County.

The Cowboy Olympics is a timed event that will feature the Central Heights FFA Chapter against the Anderson County FFA Chapter in team competition at 7 p.m. today at the Richmond Fairgrounds, Central Avenue and Baldwin Street.

The individual competition will be 7 p.m. Friday at the fairgrounds.

The timed event tries to capture the daily activities of a cowboy and begins with the contestants putting on their boots as if they are just climbing out of bed, Steinberger said.

Other activities include stacking wood, feeding a horse, stacking five bales of hay, milking a cow and carrying the cup of milk across the finish line.

Real animals are not involved and the cow milking portion of the competition is a milk bottle with a nipple on it, Steinberger said.

“It’s kind of hard to have a real cow,” he said.

The popular event is always a “crowd-pleaser.”

“It’s fun to watch because of the things that happen,” Steinberger said. “They’re all hurrying so they slip and fall a lot.”

The mutton busting will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, but the pony bronc riding has been canceled because of a scheduling conflict this year, Steinberger said.

The parade’s theme this year is “Favorite Hobby.” The parade will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday and will move west on Central Avenue.

Other events at the 85th annual Richmond Free Fair include:

Today

• 1:30 p.m. - Judging begins.

• 6 p.m. - Atheltic events.

• 7 p.m. - Donna’s Dancing Dolls.

• 8 p.m. - Frankie Diamond.

Friday

• 1 p.m. - Youth livestock judging contest.

• 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. - Family and science consumers judging.

• 3 p.m. - 4-H/FFA Horse Show at Homestead Ranch.

• 5 p.m. - Dummy roping at the fairgrounds.

• 6 p.m. - Athletic events.

• 6:30 p.m. - Ottawa Music students and teachers.

• 7 p.m. - Evening entertainment featuring Frontier Twirlers, Ottawa Promenaders and friends

Saturday

• 10 a.m. - Old Tractor and Other Machinery Show.

• 11 a.m. - Judging of goats.

• 1:30 p.m. - Horseshoe Pitch.

• 2 p.m. - Greased pig contest.

• 4 p.m. - Athletic Events.

• 4 p.m. - Princeton Goal Busters ice cream sale.

• 5 p.m. - Judging of decorated bicycles.

• 6 p.m. - Grand Parade.

• 7 p.m. - Central Heights drill team and cheerleaders.

• 7:15 p.m. - Presentation of awards and results of floats.

• 7:45 p.m. - Results of silent auction.

• 8 p.m. - Entries released.

• 8 p.m. - Joy Singers.