Columbiana Co. Fair is just days away

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Jim Hoppel, Columbiana County Commissioner

By D.a. Wilkinson

County officials will judge 4-H Club entries at the fair this year.

LISBON — Although most Columbiana County elected officials will visit the county fair, one will actually take part.

This year, Commissioner Dan Bing, who does karaoke professionally, will be performing at the Midway Stage at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

The 164th annual county fair officially starts Monday and runs through Aug. 9.

Participation in the fair is not new for commissioners, however.

Commissioner Jim Hoppel of East Liverpool, a former farmer, said that when he was young, “We raised steers most of the time.”

He recalled that one year, he raised a heifer.

He won a trophy at the fair in the category for the greatest weight gain.

The fair was then held in the September, and Hoppel received the award on his birthday.

“I still have the trophy, somewhere,” Hoppel said Friday.

Nancy Milliken, county auditor, recalled that she, too, had won an award as a youth at the fair. She said it was for flowers.

The commissioners will be back at the fairgrounds this year. They’ll be judging the entries from 4-H clubs at the junior fair building. That’s an annual event, Hoppel said.

Julie Herron, the county director of the local Ohio State University Extension Service and 4-H Youth development coordinator, noted that all 4-H programs in the county have space for displays in the junior fair building.

In past years when money was tight, the commissioners gave some money to the extension programs. But in recent years, they have made a point to fund the service because agriculture is the county’s biggest industry.

“The commissioners are very supportive of us, and we appreciate it,” Herron said.