Editor’s note: Sidney Daily News reporter Heather Willard followed 2017 Shelby County Fair Queen Grace Homan, of Botkins, during four days of the fair.
SIDNEY – On Tuesday, July 25, Grace Homan and her younger brother, Denton, of Botkins, waited with their dairy feeders outside the barn at the Shelby County Fairgrounds, checking them over a few more times before they took them out to the show ring. The cows weigh 600 pounds, and both 4-H kids had high hopes for their success.
“Do you know what class they’re on?” Homan asked.
“Threes are in the ring,” Denton told her.
Homan nodded, and took a firmer grasp on her cow’s lead.
It’s a common scene at the Shelby County fair, with a slight twist: Homan is the 2017 Shelby County Fair Queen, adding to her lengthy resume and numerous fair-week responsibilities. At 16, she has already won Grand Champion — with her market lamb in 2016 — competed on the varsity basketball team for two years, the varsity soccer team for two years and served as team captain, and competed for two years on the track and field team, which named her Most Valuable Player both years at Botkins High School. She works on Junior Fair Board and as a 4-H camp counselor and is oldest of five kids on her parents’ dairy farm, all while earning scholarships for her 4.0 GPA.
Like many other 4-H kids, fair week for her is the culmination of months of hard work and years of learning to raise the best animal for the show. With it come some sacrifices: Homan usually exercises every morning, but the time constraints and overall energy-drain of fair week stopped her from the routine. She was able to combine some of her responsibilities.
“I’m at the hog show all afternoon, which is nice because I had to be there anyway because I’m one of the Junior Fair Board department superintendents,” she said, Wednesday afternoon. “I took a nap this morning though.”
But for her, fair queen was just the next step in her 4-H career.
“It has a lot to do with the people around me,” she said. “My 4-H educator, Lydia Rinehart, really pushes us to do our best, so she thought I would be good at this. I’ve always wanted to give back to the fair, and I thought this was a good way.”
As queen, Homan has found that her travels around the fairgrounds have changed from previous years.
“It’s hard to walk down and get a snowcone without a little girl staring at you because you have a tiara on your head. You’re definitely a role model for them,” she said. “I’ve always watched everybody’s shows, but now you’re in the show and handing stuff out, and I’ve been talking to more people.”
Like any other fair kid, she has her preferences and opinions. In her opinion, the Crazy Redhead Canteen has the best food, and the Dairy Boosters have the best milkshakes. When it comes down to it, Homan is the stereotypical picture of a fair queen: well-spoken, more comfortable in the barn than a prom dress, with aspirations of going to college on a sports scholarship for radiology. But catch her with her friends, and her unique spirit and bright smile will show her individuality.
“I like math and science,” she said. “I’m really bad at writing, and I’m not graceful.”
Homan has shown market lambs for her entire 4-H career as a member of Botkins Livestock 4-H club. Market lambs are her favorite because of how hands-on the project is. This year, her brother, Denton, 15, and mom, Billie, helped her prepare her lambs in the final minutes leading up to the show.
“You really see your progress with the lambs, and it’s very satisfying to me,” she said.
Homan added to her 4-H career by winning third place in Class 5 dairy beef feeder calves and first in one of the classes for market lambs. She intends to visit the Auglaize County Fair as Shelby County Fair Queen next week and plans to compete in the Ohio State Fair Queen pageant in January.
