Agricultural exhibits, rules, announced

The Wells County Agricultural Exhibits for the Bluffton Free Street Fair will again be held at the City Building, it was announced this week by Street Fair officials
Brochures and entry forms are now available at the Street Fair office located at 113 S. Johnson Street, which is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The phone number is 824-4351.
“Exhibits must be grown or made in Wells County and exhibitor must be Wells County resident,” a spokesperson for the fair emphasized.
The entries for Culinary & Needlework and Fine Arts & Crafts are to be delivered between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 20. Judging for these categories is at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21. Entries for Agricultural and Flowers are to be delivered between 8 a.m. and noon on Tuesday. Judging for these categories is Tuesday afternoon with exhibits open for viewing from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.
Entries are not to be removed before 4 p.m. but must be out of the Exhibit Hall by 8 p.m. on Friday. The Street Fair Association cannot be responsible for any entries not removed by that time, they noted.
The Wells County Democratic Party will be providing the security services during open viewing hours once again. Chairmen for these exhibits are Carol Meeks (Culinary, Needlework, Fine Arts & Crafts), Helen Witte (Flowers) and Bill Horan (Agriculture).
Any exhibitor with a large number of entries may bring their entry forms to the Street Fair office by Thursday, Sept. 16, for the office staff to pre-register them, which will speed up the process of registering at the City Building. Premium checks may be picked up Monday through Wednesday the week following the fair at the Street Fair office.

Big Changes for Street Fair Horse Show

The 100th year of the Bluffton Street Fair will bring big changes to the saddle horse exhibit at the fair.
Starting on Saturday, Sept. 18, the horses will begin showing halter and pleasure classes at 9 a.m.
A chili supper carry-in will be held Saturday evening for the participants. Past saddle horse fair participants are encouraged to join for fellowship and sharing of street fair memories.
The show will continue on Sunday with obstacle courses and contesting classes starting at 3 p.m.
Fun show classes will be held on the evenings as in the past, but with a rearranged schedule.
At 6:30 p.m. on Monday evening, Sept. 20, the young riders age 9 and under will participate in the Little Buckaroo Show. Riders 10 to 18 can participate in the Casey Biberstine Memorial Show on Wednesday evening starting at 6:30 p.m.
On Thursday, the final day of events will feature riders 19 and over in the Goodtime Charlie Show. The show will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a break for the awards presentation at 7:30 p.m.
There are a wide variety of classes offered for exhibitors and their horses, ranging from miniature horses to draft horses, mules and donkeys, driving, and timed events.
The saddle horses will be located at the 4-H Park from Saturday, Sept. 18 through Thursday, Sept. 23. As always, the public is invited to stop out at the park to watch the show and view the horses.

More sponsors needed for Street Fair benches

There is still time to purchase the rights to decorate a Bluffton Street Fair bench for $200 and have it completed in time for use at fair time.
The benches, owned by the Fair Association, will be used at this anniversary fair and continue to be used for years to come. Each bench will have a plaque on it telling the name of the sponsor and the artist. Sponsorship of a bench is $200 with $100 of it to go to the artist.
To arrange for sponsoring a bench call the Creative Arts Council at (260) 824-5222.