BENTONVILLE — I used to spend the better part of a week in August at the county fair - not the Benton County Fair but the one in Phillips County, Kansas. I photographed rodeo events nightly in the dusty and often-too-dark arena to capture both the rodeo cowboys and the local participants in the annual event. The daytime events at the annual high school rodeo were much easier to photograph. But, surprisingly, the number of 4-H and FFA animals exhibited were few and didn't receive as much attention.
Because of other job responsibilities, I spend only a few hours each year at the Benton County Fair, but most of that is spent in the junior livestock barn where local kids enter and show their cattle, goats and pigs. And, it's often quite obvious that these young farmers have put in a tremendous amount of time with their animals. Their work is impressive.
The photos on this page were taken in the livestock barn, most in the moments before the premium junior livestock auction where these kids were rewarded for their hard work and given seed money to do it all again next year.
Though only a few local kids are pictured here, a special section of photos taken at the premium junior livestock auction is planned for next week's issue.
More photos can be found here: FAIR.
General News on 08/17/2016