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Fact Box

Champions

Taylor Pottmeyer, 17, won the champion hog award at the 50th Annual Waterford Community Fair on Friday. Pottmeyer is a Waterford High School student and a member of the Churchtown 4-H Shining Stars. His advisers are Erin and Dennis Pottmeyer.

Patrick Schaad, 15, earned the reserve champion hog award Friday at the Waterford Community Fair. Schaad is a Waterford High School student and member of the FFA and Waterford Warriors. His 4-H adviser is Donna Greer, and the FFA adviser is Matt Hartline.

FAIR SCHEDULE

Saturday

8 a.m. - Presentation of colors.

8 a.m. - Livestock and jackpot show.

9 a.m. - Children's games.

11:30 a.m. - Scales open.

Noon - Farm stock tractor pull.

Noon to 5 p.m. - Matinee rides ($10 for an armband).

Break for hog sale.

2 p.m. - Big Al and the Hillbillies.

4:30 p.m. - Hog sale.

4:30 p.m. - Blackwater Run.

5 p.m. - Rides ($12 for an armband).

7 p.m. - The Moron Brothers.

8 p.m. - Farm stock tractor pull.

9:30 p.m. - Pickin' On Country.

Sunday

8 a.m. - Presentation of Colors.

8 a.m. - Fun horse show.

9 a.m. - Church services in the tent.

Noon to 4 p.m. - Matinee rides ($10 for an armband).

12:30 p.m. - Dulcimer music.

1 p.m. - Ladies Redneck Rodeo.

1 p.m. - Pedal tractor pull.

2 p.m. - Back Porch Swing Band.

4 p.m. - Taj Rohr.

5 p.m. - Rides ($12 for an armband).

5 p.m. - Truck and tractor pull.

6 p.m. - MIXX.

8 p.m. - Resurrect 27.

The Waterford Community Fair came from some humble beginnings 50 years ago, according to Dr. David Lowe, who was honored Friday as the fair's first official veterinarian.

"It was held in a cow pasture then," he said. "A bunch of local citizens, led by a man named John Noll, were very instrumental in starting the fair. But it began on a shoestring, and then it kind of took hold over the years. It's really more of a homecoming for the community."

Fair board secretary Connie Huck said the event literally started from scratch in 1959.

"The local Grange voted to give us $100 to get it started," she said. "But the fair didn't move to the present fairgrounds until 1961. Before that, it was held right down in Waterford in a large field. There's a housing development in that area now."

Lowe recalled some past events that are no longer part of the community fair.

"One year we had a greased pig chase with pigs in a mud bog," he said. "There were teams of two who had to catch a pig and stuff it in a barrel.

"Another time we had 'cow patty bingo' where a lot was marked off in squares and the square in which the cow dropped its first 'patty' won," Lowe added.

Ray Jones attended his first Waterford Community Fair in the early 1960s.

"I hauled in the lumber for the first building built on the fairgrounds in 1961," he said. "The fair was slow starting off in those first years, but I've seen it really grow year after year."

Keeping the community's young people involved is a key to the Waterford Community Fair's growth, according to Lowe.

"There's always a lot for them to do here," he said.

Kreig Worstell, with the Beverly-Waterford Rescue Squad, has attended the fair for at least eight years now. He said the annual truck pulls are one of his favorite fair events.

"I used to like watching the 'Watermelon Warrior' - a '68 or '69 Chevrolet pickup truck with two-wheel drive that was in the truck pull for several years in a row," Worstell said. "I remember one year the driver took a watermelon, cut it in half, then hollowed out one half and used it as a helmet. You know that had to be pretty sticky inside."

Bill Young, of Luke Chute, has attended the fair for many years.

"I come for the music," he said. "I really like bluegrass and country music, and I'm looking forward to hearing the Moron Brothers (at 7 p.m. Saturday). They're pretty funny."

Jim and Nancy Smith brought their karaoke show from McConnelsville and had a good list of vocalists already signed up an hour before their event began.

"This is probably the fourth year for us, and we usually have a pretty good crowd," Nancy Smith said. "But I think our best year was probably 2007."

"It seemed to go on forever," Jim Smith said. "We had a lot of people who signed up that night. But it's a lot of fun for everyone."

In the exhibit hall, Martha and Walt Mays were inviting folks to enter a free Bible drawing.

"I was born in Waterford, but we moved away in 1959 when the fair began," Martha said. "We moved back here about four years ago, and have enjoyed the fair. It's more of a hometown fair - not too big."

Lowe, a longtime volunteer firefighter, said the fair has also been a great fundraising event for the Beverly-Waterford Volunteer Fire Department. He noted that the department is raffling off a Ford Ranger pickup truck this year, and at $10 a ticket or three for $25, it's a real bargain.

The Waterford Community Fair continues Saturday and Sunday at the fairgrounds along Ohio 339, about two miles from Beverly.