The Polk County Fair has come and gone. I really enjoyed getting to go out and cover the various shows and events last week.
It was great seeing all the kids out there working with their animals or showing their mom and dad the ribbon they received on their exhibit. The county fair is the culmination of a lot of hard work then, in a couple of days it is over for another year.
I’ve been going to county fairs for my job for 15 years now. Polk County is not the biggest, but it is the most efficiently run. The fine folks in the extension office and on the ag board are always helpful any time a question came up, or helped identify this kid or that kid — or just point me in the right direction for a source.
It’s funny how much time I spend at the fairgrounds now — growing up my family did not go to the county fair. I’ll be honest I didn’t attend my first county fair until I was in college. I am not sure I even had heard of 4-H.
We spent our summers at the softball fields. My sister played softball from the time she was old enough and my dad coached her. When I was 10 he got me into umpiring — we did that together.
Each summer we would be out on some ball field — either for her playing or me umpiring the games. We went to tournaments in Indiana, Kansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and even Hawaii.
I didn’t appreciate it at the time. I was too busy being a moody kid to realize that my dad did those things for me — not because he had to, but because he loved me.
He coached me in soccer and basketball when I was a kid — again I did not appreciate it.
When I was in college he drove me from Indiana to Iowa to cover a college basketball game on the spur of the moment (we didn’t expect my college team to make it to the finals). We went from Indiana to Iowa — I took pictures at the game while he did stats for me in the stands — then he drove me back to school in Michigan. I’m pretty sure all these events took place in about 24 hours.
I didn’t find out until a few months ago that after I hopped out of his van and went back to my dorm he had to call my mom to come get him because the van broke down (he didn’t even get off campus). I was oblivious. It took me 20 years to find out.
The point is not to say how bad I was as a kid — I own the fact I was a stupid kid — the point is he did those things for me.
As I walked around the fairgrounds last week it was great to see all the parents helping their kids, giving them advice and just being supportive of their kids. Some of the kids appreciate it, others do not. But they will come around.
I have four kids at home. I hope that I can live up to the example that my mom and dad set for me all those years ago. And when my kids do not appreciate things that I do for them I just need to remember that sometimes it takes 20 years to realize things.
Rick Holtz is a reporter of the Polk County News. Find his column, Reporter’s Notebook, from time to time in the newspaper and online at www.polkcountynews.net.
