Animals, projects & more at fair

BLOOMINGTON – It’s a dream come true for this year’s McLean County Fair queen.

Allena Johnson has always wanted to be queen and she got her wish this week on opening day of the fair. Johnson and others on the fair court can be found throughout the fairgrounds this weekend. She is from LeRoy and a member of the Olympia Pacesetters 4-H club.

“I show hogs, have sewing and I used to show rabbits,” Johnson told The Central Illinois Farm Network.

Johnson will be a senior at LeRoy High School and plans to study bio-chemistry in college.

Thursday was a busy show day on the grounds where you could find Laurelyn McIlvain of Normal and Anabelle Sutter of Danvers with their Jersey dairy cows. McIlvain got third for her first year in 4-H and Sutter received grand champion in her breed and best in showmanship.

“She got me some pretty good ribbons,” Sutter said of her cow.

McLean County Fair Manager Mike Swartz says moving the fair up a week this year seemed to go over well with fairgoers, despite the warm weather.

“That was a great opportunity for us,” explained Swartz. “When we moved it, we also decided to shorten our fair to three days then we have added a livestock show on the back end of it.”