Morton County Fair | Video

Kristin Clouston | 8/4/2012

For 52 years, families have taken a little time off to celebrate the Morton County Fair. This year`s fair offers everything from rodeos and dances to community meals and tractor pulls. It is also the home of the county`s 4H achievement days.

Showing big animals like horses often in draw crowds, but this year`s fair features a lot of small animals, like rabbits.

"They look at them, if their teeth are good, if their fur is soft, because that really tells the judge if they`re eating, if they`re getting all the right nutrients that they need," said extension agent Karla Meikle.

This year had 40 rabbit entries.

"We just comb them and tame them to not get wild every day," said Sabrina Doll from New Salem.

What`s the hardest part about working with bunnies?

"Just calming them down. They just get so wild," Doll said.

Fourty-two judges decide who gets to walk away with red, blue or grand champion ribbons.

"There are a couple ways you can look at the project. You can look at the project itself and they may have put some time into it. It might not look like something that you would give a blue ribbon to, but when the judge sits down and actually interviews with the 4Her, they learn the whole process through the eyes of the 4Her," Meikle said.

Matt Smith spent about 10 hours putting together his advanced first aid kit.

"I had to find out the different types of bandages, things you could use, how you could use them, find different ways of learning certain kinds of gauze."

Smith also learned how to use some new equipment.

"A snake bite venom extractor. I never learned how to use one of these before."

He does now, but hopefully won`t ever have to use it.

The Morton County fair runs through Sunday.

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