Buddy, Savannah Sizemore and Cameron Baker win as the Costume Class Winners.
Photo courtesy of Tonya Sizemore
LIMA — Costumed characters disguised as horses galloped through the Schmidthorst Pavillion at the Allen County Fair. Many familiar faces such as the Lion King and Bella from Beauty and the Beast made an appearance Thursday afternoon.
The annual Jr. Fair Horse and Pony costume class showcased 17 horses making this year’s contest the largest thus far. Contestants from 4-H rallied their horses to compete for the top costume. The judges consider creativity, originality, theme and safety before choosing a champion.
Throughout the competition, each contestant provided a short story about their horse’s costume read by the announcers. One 4-H contestant, Maddie Duvall, dressed as an angel shared a short poem.
‘I will dance in your dreams, I will gallop through your heart, I will plant footprints on your soul, I hope everyone is having a blessed 2022 Allen County Fair’
The costume class allows 4-H to have fun after an event-filled week. One contestant dressed her horse in her early morning drink of choice: coffee.
“This event is called a costume class for horses,” said Savannah Sizemore. “You just dress your horse up and the best costume wins. It is about safety and creativity. I have to get a coffee like every morning or I am so cranky. Everyone is always very cranky at the fair because we have late nights and early mornings so I thought it would be a cute idea to kind of do. My horse’s name is Buddy and he was dressed as a ‘Buddyccino’.”
After a tough competition, judges chose Buddy as the grand champion in this year’s event.
The horses and ponies were not the only animals getting dolled up for the fair this year. 4-H participants dressed up their llamas, alpacas and bovines.
A few more 4-H events are scheduled before the closing of Allen County Fair 2022.
The Jr. Fair livestock auction will be held on Friday morning at 9 a.m in the Show Arena.
The Jr. Champion of all Champions Showmanship will be held on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. and the Open Class Dairy Goat Showmanship and Breeding Show will be held immediately after in the Sheep Show Arena.
Memorial ‘Retro’ Horse Show will be held at 10 a.m. in the Schmidthorst Pavilion and the Jr. Fair Dog Show will be held at 2 p.m. in the Show Arena.
