Friends of County Fairs named

Friends of Illinois County Fairs were chosen during the recent Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs convention in Springfield.

Award recipients included: Ruth Blasingame of Boone County, Sen. Tom Bennett of Gibson City and Kate Boyer of Stephenson County.

On Saturday, Talent Show winners were chosen during the IAAF Convention. Winner of the Senior Division went to Macy Waters and Avery Wyatt of Calhoun County with a jazz dance duet; second place went to Lexi Willms of Fairbury Fair (Livingston County) with a piano solo; third place went to Katie Stiedinger and Lucas Clinton of Ford County with a vocal duet; fourth place went to Julia Hilgeman of Iroquois County with a vocal solo.

In the Junior Division Talent Show, Jaycee Bates of Sangamon County was the winner with a contemporary dance solo; second place went to a dance group from Morgan County. Members included Jayden Batty, Paislee Gear, Maddy Klendworth, Eady Brickey, Hadley Gray, Parker Geer, Aubrey Kunzemen, Malina VanMatter. Third place went to Parker Silverman of Boone County with an instrumental violin; fourth place went to Laila Smith of Clay County with a vocal guitar.  

Dave Hake of Hoyle in Washington County was elected president of the IAAF, Gary Mielke of Ridott in Stephenson County was elected vice president. In total, this year's convention had more than 2,500 in attendance.