79th Berkeley County Youth Fair Gets Underway This Weekend

One of only two dedicated youth fairs in the nation kicks off this weekend in Berkeley County.

Berkeley County Youth Fair: Youth Strong, America Proud is the theme for the 79^th year of the event, which features exhibitors from 4-H, FFA, FCCLA, Scouting America, Girl Scouts, and the Boys and Girls Club in Berkeley County. The event runs from August 1^st through the 8^th at the dedicated youth fair grounds.

(Berkeley County Youth Fair Photo)

Berkeley County Youth Fair 1st Vice President Charlie Moore is in charge of the Fair Schedule and Events.

He appeared on Panhandle Live Wednesday and shared that the youth fair has been a part of his life since he was little.  He grew up with the fair as a big part of his childhood.

“When I started, I believe I was 8 years old showing beef that was raised on the same farm that I live on now,” Moore said, adding that decades later, “I never thought that I’d have the opportunity or would be needed to step into this role and then have been filling the first vice president role for three years now.”  

Despite its status as only one of a few youth-focused fairs, Moore said the Berkeley County Youth Fair is not dying off.  “It’s phenomenal to see. The number (of exhibitors) last year was 570. This year we have 720 exhibitors and over 2,500 individual projects.” 

“The fair is continuing to grow,” Moore said, adding that in the hog barn they are running out of space. 

He said he was tempted to think the fair would just phase out, thinking, “This is it. It’s going to dwindle down.  The farmland’s decreasing,” he said.  “But the (youth fair) numbers are just growing astronomically. It is awesome to see.” 

This year, Moore predicts a lot of red, white and blue decorating the stalls and exhibits.

“The theme is Youth Strong and America Proud for our 250^th,” Moore said. “There are flags all over the fairgrounds already. We have been in straight up fair cleanup and rejuvenation mode. So

(Berkeley County Youth Fair Photo)

many businesses have come out and just helped us with doing in-kind work, whether it’s cleaning the grandstands or fresh and cleaned by business. A couple of the other things have been painted. The West Virginia Day Report crew has been out there helping. The grounds look awesome. And we are ready. A lot of the roofs have been spruced up, gotten paint jobs, and it just looks awesome. And the volunteers have been coming down and just supporting us tremendously to be able to be ready for this year’s fair.”

Peyton Dugan reigned as Miss Berkeley County Youth Fair in 2022.  This year is the last she’ll be able to exhibit, as she is one of 16 long-time exhibitors who are aging out this year.  On Thursday’s Panhandle Live, she reflected on her time.

“it’s kind of bittersweet because I’ve been involved in this my whole life. But it’s definitely something I’ll cherish. My little brother and sister, they’re still in it. So I always like going out to the fair, being able to help them even after I age out here this year. But it’s definitely bittersweet to me,” she said. 

Dugan has warm memories of more than a dozen years exhibiting both as a member of the Scrabble Scramblers 4-H club as well as the Spring Mills chapter of the FFA.

“I was the Miss Berkeley County Youth Fair. That’s something that was really special to me,” Dugan says. “I got to represent the various clubs and organizations in our county and my fair as well throughout the state and in our community. ” 

As for other highlights from her youth fair days, she says, “And you know, of course, I’ve showed animals for the past 13 years. The goats really have my heart. I’ve been fortunate enough to have some success in showmanship and the market shows. So that’s definitely been a highlight.” 

Dugan says she won’t be a stranger to the fair and will be there supporting her younger siblings

Minnick-Buhrts (Berkeley County Youth Fair Photo)

Reigning Miss Berkeley County Youth Fair Cheyanne Minnick-Buhrts appeared on Panhandle Live Friday, the day she would crown her successor.  Reflecting on her year, she said, “It was definitely everything and more. I was so excited because I got to see behind the scenes. That’s what really shocked me is how much goes on behind the scenes. We’re already planning for next year’s fair. So talking about it at fair board meetings and being able to pitch my ideas, it was really interesting and exciting to be able to see how much we actually do throughout the year instead of just during fair week.”

Fair week itself was a busy time for the outgoing Miss Berkeley County Youth Fair, who said some days there were so many events going on at the same time, she couldn’t be on hand to present ribbons or judge exhibits, so she would ask for help from members of her court. 

“I actually had like a ‘royal chariot’ whenever I needed to go somewhere,” she said, smiling, “So we have an up on top of the hill, which is like where the steers and our market animals are. And then we have a down at the bottom of the hill, which is like our horses and stuff. I started down at the bottom of the hill my very first year of showing. I used to show horses. So I would have to go from the beef barn and have to help with an all-star show and then I’d have to go all the way down to the horse barn. So luckily I had runners up that were able to help me and I’d be like, hey, this is the rundown for the day. I need this person here, there and everywhere.”

She expressed appreciation for the hundreds of volunteers who help each year.  “Our fair board puts in so much effort just throughout the year and especially this whole week. I know that some of them are really stressed and they put in a lot of effort and work just to make sure that our fair week’s perfect and it’s all about the kids.”

Minnick-Buhrts said she has exhibited since 2018 either as a member of the Southern Girls 4-H club in South Berkeley County, or with Musselman High School’s FFA chapter. 

She even exhibited virtually during the pandemic, “showing a chicken online whenever we had our virtual fair. It’s really different because I’m so used to being in person, interacting,” she said, and “then I just went online.  You’re just taking pictures of your chicken. And they’re like, okay, this is your place. And I was like, oh, okay.” 

As to some of the highlights of the fair, when she’s not exhibiting, Minnick Buhrts said, “Probably either rodeo night or sale night. As sad as sale night is, you’re watching the animals get sold, but it opens up a new chapter — whether you’re aging out and you’re starting your adult life or you’re starting a new project or it’s just a new chapter of your life. And definitely rodeo because everyone loves a good rodeo. We even have two nights of it this year.”

Charlie Moore is in charge of scheduling those events. “This year, I set up an Excel sheet to make sure that every space was utilized as efficiently as we can,” he said.

“It’s $7 to get in the gate for adults, $5 for kids. But we understand that sometimes times are tight and this might be their only vacation.”

“We want people to actually come and enjoy,” he said, revealing a new feature this year.  “I will let the cat out of the bag. We do have a last minute entertainment feature that we added just last week — pig, goat, and duck races this year for the first time ever. We picked that up from another fair.”

“Right in the middle of the fairway, we’ll have pig races three times a day starting at 5:00, 6.30, and 8:00, I believe,” said Moore.

He said he considers all the clubs that support the fair when they are laying out the show schedule.

“Starting on Saturday you have the sheep, Monday you have the hogs, Tuesday goats, beef is Wednesday, dairy is Thursday, and then we have our end of week market sale for all the individuals selling their market animals on Friday night.” 

When it comes to scheduling, Moore says he looks to what worked in the past. “I try to take lessons from our past,” he said. “I’m big on that. Don’t create the wheel if it doesn’t need to be created. We’ve learned from so many people before us. I mean, this is our 79th year.”

“So sheep is easy to move in and out on Sunday, then Monday we put up panels to get the hogs in the barn. So we graduate in how we set the barn up to be able to get us to that final night. So the overall animal shows have stayed the same,” said Moore.

As for the entertainment, “This will be the third year for us to have a worship kind of church-themed evening entertainment on Sunday. The first couple years it was actually a Nashville artist coming in. This year Crossroads Church is putting on night of worship for the entire community. We’ve named it Berkeley County Night of Worship,” Moore said, adding, “It’s one of our most well attended events for the amphitheater.”

“And then Wednesday and Thursday we also have two country acts coming in, Clayton Mullen and Austin Michael.”

“The track has something on it every night,” said Moore.

“Saturday night we actually have the Four-State garden tractor pulling series,” Moore said.
“Saturday is the free admission day, so if families just want to come out and see the animals, I encourage them to come out Saturday afternoon after weigh-in check-ins done, just walk around the barn and see something.”

Monday features the large tractors. “Monday’s the modifieds, the real loud ones that the kids love seeing all the smoke come out of and seeing what they do,” Moore said.

“Tuesday, Wednesday, back by popular demand is the rodeo. We’re doing two nights of rodeo again. So that grandstand is packed full of people and people just love participating,” according to Moore.

“Thursday night, we have our own small tractor pool with UTV side-by-side flat drags. And then Friday night is street drag (racing). So you can bring your street car in and just drag race.”

“People love it. They get into it. It’s wild. And then we close out the week on Saturday (August 8^th) with a wrestling event like WWE, like professional wrestling in the indoor arena. And then we close it out with the demolition derby at 6 p.m.”

“It’s a jam-packed week,” Moore said.

“We just get excited for the community to come out and just be able to support our youth,” said Moore, whose children are exhibiting in the fair.

“Without the youth, our agriculture in this area is not going to make it,” Moore said.  “We’re excited to see those numbers increase, see the interest in farming in the area. And the projects,” he said, clarifying, “I should take a minute to explain it, not all of the participants have to be ag-related. There’s art, there’s STEM. 4-H has a huge STEM program now. And they can bring their projects as well into the indoor exhibit building and be able to showcase those for the public to come out and see.” 

There is a glossy fair guide book, but live announcements and event changes will be announced on the Berkeley County Youth Fair website as well as their social media.  That’s also where the schedule and ticket information can be found.