Ithaca School District

you

Good morning and welcome to our morning show.

It's our day to spotlight the Ithaca School Fair and Homecoming, the 104th Ithaca School Fair.

And in the studio with us, we have Miss Sprecher.

She's brought along a whole group of very enthusiastic students.

Annabeth Sprecher is here, Sam Jones, Brinley Wanlis, Caden Keller, and then coming along to talk about the Big Bulldog Block Challenge, we have Courtney Urban.

How are things going here in preparation there?

Well, it's been kind of a crazy week.

We went right from county fair into homecoming, but it's been fun.

The kids have been great.

They've been really participating in all the fun activities so far.

The staff has been great participating in the dress-up days, and we are manifesting no rain for the rest of the week.

So if the whole community can help us out with that, we'd appreciate it.

Build a dome or something, I think, the way it sounds.

Yeah, but we know the Bulldog spirit, and we're going to do it rain or shine, and we're going to have fun doing it for sure.

Absolutely.

When you talk about, Melissa, when you talk

about this homecoming coming this early in the school year.

It does present some challenges, doesn't

it?

Yeah, it really does.

We were kind of presented with only two dates, either an early one, which is this weekend, or end of October.

And as we kind of looked at what

the homecoming is and a big part of that school fair.

We knew we just wouldn't have the numbers with the animals and we wouldn't have the produce because obviously the gardens are well done by the end of October.

So we just said, well, let's do it and we're going to all pitch in and we're going to make this happen.

And everyone's just been wonderful from the committee to the staff, to the community.

Um, everyone's really jumped in and helped out.

And like I said, it's a quick turnaround from county fair.

We have kids that are still tired from county fair and we're going into homecoming week.

So luckily they have Monday off so they can take a nap and.

get caught up on sleep for the next week.

But yeah, it's been a very, very fast, fast week already.

How are things going with the FFA this year so far?

Really great.

Yeah, we're doing lots of fun stuff.

We're heading into our fall leadership workshops.

That'll be the end of September.

We go down there and the kids learn all kinds of great leadership skills to bring back to the chapter.

We're going to be going to World Air Expo.

We have some teams judging down there is excited about that.

And then National Convention is end of October.

And we have a pretty heavy senior team going this year.

So that's been really fun to be in the midst of planning that.

We got concert tickets last night, which are hard to come by.

So we're super excited.

We're actually like, I think the sixth or seventh row back.

So we're pretty excited about that.

And where are

you

seeing?

Ty Murray, is that right?

Ty Meyers.

Sorry.

I

am not for a Sunday noon up and coming people.

I'm still like on Dolly Parton.

So

I'm

sorry.

So now the kids are excited.

They said it's going to be great.

So I'm going to go along and have a great time too.

And so yeah.

And then we're going to go into

taking some meals out to the farmers and things.

So yeah, just lots of great stuff going on and the kids are keeping super busy and just very excited about the year ahead of us.

What's interesting is, you know, back on my day, it was just one day, you know, that was the day.

But you really kind of expanded it now beginning as early as tonight with activities, haven't you?

Yeah.

And actually the kids will talk about those a little bit more about the different things that we're doing.

But yeah, we best we started early on in the week.

with dress up days.

And then we're going into some fun activities tonight.

And then we added some stuff for Friday night.

And again, the kids are going to talk about that a little bit more and then into the school fair on Saturday, which is the big part that it goes really fast.

And so to try to just get that turnaround.

And that's kind of the part that with the animals that I'm in charge of the most.

And it's, it's fun, but man, it's fast.

And that has expanded as well.

I mean, the sale, the meat animal sale on Saturday, that's a larger than it used to be, isn't it?

Yeah, it definitely is.

And we really appreciate all of our buyers that come out and support these kids.

The kids, some of them have an animal, like maybe they had two that they took to County Fair so they sold one there and this was their opportunity to sell the other one.

But a lot of these kids, that's their summer job, is their animals.

And so for the community to come out and support them and be able to

you know, show them that they appreciate that they put that time into agriculture, because as we know, agriculture is a shrinking community, and unfortunately, in Ithaca, we have less and less families that are directly tied to it, so we try to get other kids into it, and so we appreciate it when the community comes out and says, hey, we support you guys for doing the hard work and keeping agriculture alive in Ithaca.

So you brought along a good group here of seniors.

Any reason why you picked these?

Or do they have a study hall or something?

They wanted to go to Culver's.

No, I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

So seniors are all four FFA members and I brought

one from all the different fall sports, and then also some officers.

So yeah, they'll be able to give you all kinds of information in the fair.

They're excited to talk about their different parts of the fair.

All right.

Well, Annabeth Brecker drew the short straw.

She goes first here this morning.

Good morning.

How are you?

Morning.

How are you?

Wonderful.

Are you excited about the Ithaca School Fair?

Yeah, it's been busy.

We started September 6th with the horse show at the Anderson Lau Farm, which

A lot of the community members are very familiar with that.

We had a great turnout of kids and spectators, and it was just an awesome day to have a horse show.

But then that was earlier, right?

Because it used to have it after

the show.

Yes, usually we have it this Sunday of homecoming.

So you did a little bit earlier.

Did it work out pretty well then?

Yeah, it was a really nice day out.

It was sunny.

There was a good breeze wasn't too hot and it wasn't raining.

So you're having a block party.

What tell me about that?

Yeah, knew this year.

We're having a block party behind the school.

The FFA is having a bags tournament on Friday night.

It's going to go from five to eight or whenever it gets done.

It's going to be $10 per team.

You can sign up ahead of time by letting Miss Brecker know or fill out a form on the school website.

So that's for all ages.

Yup.

Anyone's welcomed.

Wow.

Okay.

Do you have any ringers?

Do you have any, you know, class members or anything like that that, uh, are going to do well in this?

Do you think?

Uh, I think some of the seniors are going to give some kids a run for their money

for

sure.

That should be fun.

Tell me about the carnival games that are going

on.

So, alongside the bag ceremony, we're going to have carnival games by the Middle School Student Council.

I think it's 25 cents per ticket.

So, it's just a fun family activity for the little elementary kids.

Get them excited about Homecoming Week 2 and evolve them in Homecoming.

Sand volleyball?

When is that going to be?

Yup, that's the same night, Friday night.

We're

also going to have a concession stand, dirty sodas and coffee, and then music, which Courtney Urban's going to talk about later.

Okay.

So the guys play volleyball, right?

Is that how it works?

Yup.

Tonight, the guys will play volleyball and the girls will play flag football.

Okay.

And the coaches of the respective sports are saying, don't get hurt doing this.

Yes.

We have one in the room with us as a sprained ankle right now.

Oh.

We might be cutting down on her activity here tonight.

Yeah, we might be

out of kicker.

Sure.

So what are some other things you're involved in, Annabeth?

I'm going to be also selling a pig or my steer in the sale this year, along with 20 other kids.

So we should have a decent sized sale this year if you guys want to come out and support those kids And even if you don't want to take the meat you can pay the difference between the market price and what you bought it for So if market price was $2 and you bought it for $3 you only had to pay a dollar per pound Which is really good way to support the kids even if you don't want the meat

Tell us about your year.

Did you have a good year at State Fair?

Yes, I had a reserve champion short horn steer and reserve dorset weather which is Amazing to have not just one but two almost make the sale and then last year I made the sale with a short horn steer So it's just kind of cool thing keeping my short horn winnings up.

I guess

Were you tired after the Richland County Fair?

Yeah, it's been a long Month between State Fair Grant County Fair Richland County Fair and now going into school fair

You're involved in we how could you tell us about that?

Yeah, we have we co-op this year with Rachel and the center So usually we just do some things with them But the she were actually competing with them Which is really fun because all the girls are super close since we've been doing this with a couple years with them It's just a fun way to hang out and do what we love together So

do you have a competition coming up there or a show with we how this fall or is that?

That's happening

later this year.

Yup.

Our district shows October 9th through the 11th and our state shows October 30th through November 1st.

Keeps ya hoppin', keeps ya busy.

Yes,

for sure.

Time management, you've got a lot of things to do there.

How do you find the time to get everything?

Oh, I don't really, but we make it work.

Gotta get up early once in a while.

Yeah, like every day.

Great.

Well, have a great fair, Annabeth.

We appreciate you coming in.

Sam Jones is next year, uh, as, uh, as we do a little round table here.

Are you doing there, Sam?

Good.

How about you?

Wonderful.

Good to see you.

So tell me about cross country.

How's it going this

year?

It's going good.

Um, we're making do after losing a lot of seniors last year, but we've won a couple of meets so far this year and I think we're only going to get better as the year goes on.

I think that you're scoring quite as well as you did last year.

I mean, I think a lot of people thought after last year, maybe you'd be down a little bit, but it looks like a lot of people have stepped up.

Yeah, we have a lot of good younger athletes.

A lot of improvement out of them.

And thanks to the help of Owen Dreyer, he's a pretty good athlete.

And it helps when you have somebody that wins a lot of the races too.

But I mean, I'm noticing a lot of you guys are in the top 10 or top 20 in some of these big meets.

Yeah, we have a lot of younger guys doing really well this year.

Yeah, I

used to look at running as a punishment So you must do you actually like running not really no true confessions here But you get out and do it you like this for yeah,

yeah, I like the guys in it a lot of people

Lot of camaraderie and yeah, yeah Tell us about the class games going on tonight Sam.

Um, there's the boys are playing volleyball and the girls are playing football and then there'll be class games held on the football field after the football game

And then coronation is tomorrow, not tonight.

Okay.

For the king and queen

for the

homecoming then.

Right.

All right.

Well, then are you playing football tonight?

Or are you playing?

No, you wouldn't be playing football.

You're playing volleyball.

Yeah.

So seniors, how do you, how do you divide up the teams?

Seniors and freshmen.

Well, for volleyball, each class has their own team.

And then for football,

Freshmen and seniors are together and juniors and sophomores are together.

Okay.

Tell us about the other things going on little British show and the livestock shows

the little British show goes on at 9 30 on Saturday morning contact and that Lewis if you want your little ones to show

And then the livestock show as well

The livestock shows also at 9 30 that all that starts at 9 30 on Saturday morning.

All right.

What do you like about being an FFA?

Um FAA I like

The people in it.

It's good camaraderie there and I like to compete for it

Good and you have a good group.

I know what about you put on a blood drive.

Is that coming up here fairly soon?

Yep, um blood drive is on November 24th.

We do it twice a year

Homecoming court has been announced.

You mentioned the coronation.

Do you have a list of who's on court this year?

Yeah for freshman It's Carter playman Madison hackle sophomores mazy to aloe and Braxton fall

juniors are Alyssa Olson and Leon Leon Holtfort and for seniors girls are Kaylee Manning, J.C.

Maxwell, Maley Plemer, Brinley Wanlis and for boys it's Bracing Garcia Boulin, Sam Jones, Karik Thompson and Ricardo Risco.

All right well good luck with that should be fun.

Yeah,

thank you much.

You bet.

Good to have you on here.

Sam Jones joining us here from Ithaca schools as we get set for the upcoming Ithaca school fair and homecoming.

Brindley Wanlis is next.

She is also a senior.

How's volleyball going, Brindley?

Um, it's pretty good.

I've been out for the past week, so I've been actually been playing, but I didn't play the first game.

So you're, you're out for the sport,

right?

Um, only till Monday.

Only till Monday.

Okay.

And how about the sport?

How's it going?

How's the team doing?

It's pretty good.

Last year we were picking up the pieces from our seniors, but then this year our hitters have learned a lot more and started to connect with each other.

So I'm really excited to see how the rest of the season goes.

Wonderful.

Tell us about school fair and what your role is.

We have to help organize, set up, tear down.

And we're basically in charge of making sure that everyone's animals are in the right places and that all the rings and stuff are all set up for showing and judging.

That's a lot of things to do, a lot of work there,

right?

Yeah.

Good.

Um, and then what about the show?

What's the schedule?

Is it the same as it's been in the past?

Um, it starts at eight AM on Saturday.

Um, the gym exhibits and also the live stock.

So there's a bunch of paintings and everything in the gym and then all the livestock and stuff is outside.

So are you taking something to the show?

I am.

I'm taking a guilt.

All right.

Did you take that pig to the county fair?

I took my Gil and Barrow to the county fair.

I sold my Barrow at the county fair, and then now I'm hoping to sell my Gil at the fair.

So you appreciate those buyers, don't

you?

Yes, I do very much.

There are some other fundraisers going on.

I know they always have that.

Are they doing that again this year before the sale?

Yes, the fundraiser is selling apples and cheese.

The cheese is from Meister Cheese, and the apples are from Oakwood.

and we appreciate them very much.

Yeah, some good supporters, that's for sure.

Some other activities, because it's good for all ages, right?

Yes, the kids have the bounce house and face painting and the multipurpose room after the parade so they can get out and have fun too.

And the pedal pole?

Can old guys like me do that or not?

Um, preferably not, but it starts at one PM by the school.

Should be fun.

Yes.

It'll be a lot of fun.

Yeah.

I didn't ask the other two, but I'll, I'll, I'll ask you what's a plan for next year after your school days are done.

Um, I'm hoping to go to Madison college for a cosmetology and do nails.

Wonderful.

Good luck with that.

Thank you.

What, what about you, Anna, Beth?

Have you made a decision yet on next

year?

I think I want to go either Iowa State or Penn State to become a globbyist.

Wonderful.

And Sam?

I think I'm going to go to school to meet an accountant.

I don't know where yet.

Wonderful.

Good luck with that.

Caden Keller is here as well.

Caden, what are your plans for next year off the bat here?

I'm going to go to

Southwest Tech for Carpentry.

Wonderful.

How's football going?

It's going good right now.

We're 3-0.

Riverdale 14-0.

We beat New Lisbon 43 to

Zero and then we just beat Bangor who is one of the toughest teams in the conference 12-day at home first home game So that was really nice.

We have some really good.

We have our a quarterback from Westerns or a co-op with Western this year His name's Jacob Kellert.

He's really good.

He's fast.

So like he's a threat and then we have Spencer Nelson who has played two games and he has like 280 some yards So he's a threat in the backfield with also we have Lana Walmart.

He's a big threat

He's a big full-back, big blocker, and then our line's doing really well, and then we can throw the ball kind of whenever we want.

Jacob is no relation to you, though.

No, everyone says he is.

They call us the Keller twins, but no, no relation.

So it's working out.

That game last Friday night was crazy.

I've never seen a game go that quickly because the clock was just running, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was... I don't even know.

It was just like...

It was just so fast-paced and you had to be their witness.

It was so fun.

It was.

Especially to come out with the win against a top team in the conference.

Was it pretty hard hitting?

I didn't really get hit hard because I didn't get the ball much.

A couple of times.

You had a

couple big catches.

Spencer Nelson, he's definitely a guy you want to be on the same side of the ball as him because you don't want to get hit by him.

He's a bulldozer.

Right.

Yeah, he hits hard.

Deal well float building is going on today.

Can you give us any insight into the senior float?

Well, I can't tell you what our float is because I don't want people to know yet, but all at 1230 the whole high school Freshman's or seniors be go find a spot to like kind of like hide and build our float and we'll build our float till about three o'clock and then go to practice and then if you have to finish any touches you'll just kind of do that Friday and Yeah, it's fun.

You get like yes fun

What is the theme this year that you have to go by?

The theme is surfs up.

Kind of like beachy.

Sure.

Throw a little sand on a wagon and there you go, right?

So talk a little bit about the food, because that's a big part of the fair.

So

at the fair you can start your morning with a food truck coming to serve breakfast.

Johnny's Delights is there from 7 to 9 a.m.

For lunch you could head to the old gym.

for a loaded baked potato bar or swing by the main gym to enjoy a hardy pulled pork dinner.

Lots of food there.

As a football player, you probably don't get to, or do you eat early that

day?

So the last couple, like from years past, we always went up at like 8am and had to suffer, need a pork sandwich for breakfast as like a team meal.

But this year on Friday, I think we're having like brats and hot dogs as like a team at Holly Nelson's house.

So I want to thank her for that.

Awesome and the mascot races you probably don't get to see that but that's a fun part of the fair

Yeah, we usually we're getting ready for that, but I think every year Trent Urban always finds a way to win it Courtney's husband puts puts out another costume

every year

Yeah, but um, yeah, we have we usually have a lot of mascots But if you want to bring your own mascot from anywhere you can gladly come try and beat Trent Urban

And the game

is coming up at one o'clock.

What do you know about the game?

What's coach told you about

Brookwood?

They passed the ball out.

Their quarterback has 75 pass attempts this season.

So they passed the ball out.

So we got it really.

We're in cover four.

Hopefully Brookwood doesn't

hear this.

But they, we're in cover four.

So we're in deep quarters.

So us corners and safeties are looking to intercept the ball a lot.

Their quarterback doesn't really run.

scramble out of the pocket, and then he'll throw it up no matter what.

He can throw about 60 yards.

Wow.

So we really gotta do that.

And then the offense, I think we're just gonna pound the ball with, like I said, Spencer Nelson, because it's Spencer Nelson.

It's working.

And then we'll throw the ball when we need to.

So it'll be fun.

I think we can come out on top and stay undefeated, so it'll be fun.

Right.

Maybe it'll be, maybe the rain will stop by then,

right?

Yeah, it'll also kind of be fun to play in the rain, because then it'll be hard for Brookwood to play.

the quarterback to throw, but it'll be fun.

It'll be

fun to like tackle and slide in the mud and stuff like that.

It'll be fun.

Well, Miss Brecker has said there's no more rain this weekend.

So we'll,

yeah, she's, she is the weather.

She

has

power.

Lots of power.

I didn't even ask you guys about dress up days.

Who was I supposed to ask about that?

Or do you guys know what they all are?

Uh, Annabeth,

um, Monday we did a USA day.

Okay.

Tuesday.

We did anything but a backpack day, which was a newer one this year.

Me and Burnley brought, there was some suitcases.

There was some fishing poles.

There was a fishing net.

There, a guy brought in a wagon with a truck on it, which was pretty cool.

Don't know how he had that laying around the house.

And then Wednesday was our Hawaiian day for our homecoming theme of Surf's Up.

And then

Today is class colors, seniors are black, as you can probably see.

And then Friday is-

Sam didn't get the memo.

No, Sam did not get the

memo.

And then tomorrow is school pride, so wear your purple.

Okay, tomorrow's the day for purple day.

Yes.

All right.

Good.

Well, we've got it pretty well covered.

We've got a few more things to talk about with meat, animal sale and more coming up here as we focus on the 104th Ithaca school fair and contrary to what you guys think over there.

I have not been at all 104 fairs.

I've been about half of it.

We'll be back with more in a moment on the morning show.

We are focusing on the Ithaca School Fair and Homecoming, which gets underway technically tonight with some school activities and all through the weekend.

The big focus now is on the Saturday schedule.

Courtney Urban is in with us to talk about the big bulldog block challenge.

Well done.

Well done.

I had to think about it.

Oh,

yeah, it's okay.

You did great.

How many years have you been organizing

this?

I have been doing this.

This is my ninth year, which is insane.

but ninth year and I took over for Kevin Hauser.

So he had done it, I believe five years prior.

We took a small break and then we came back nine years ago.

And it's gone well.

Have you been building numbers each and every year?

Yeah, I think so.

I'm terrible with numbers.

I just organize the thing.

But yes, we are growing.

We even pushed through the COVID years.

We did virtual running.

So we've never taken a break over the last years and that's been awesome.

And I think it has become a part of Ithaca Family's schedules of like, hey, it's Ithaca Fair, let's wake up, let's go do the 5K, 6K technically.

But as a family walk run, it's pretty awesome to see families come out.

Yeah, the deadline for t-shirts a little bit earlier,

didn't you?

Yes, because the fair was early.

It was so early.

All of this was crazy fast.

But the shirt deadline was September the 5th, but I am here to tell you and encourage you still come out because I did get extra shirts this year I cannot promise you your size but I Promise there will be shirts available for anyone who comes out last minute We have some great goodie bags as well from some from some local sponsors

Culver's always comes through with some Scoopy Tokens.

WP Dental came through.

We have some really, I'm not gonna give it away actually, Phil.

I'm gonna keep some secrets in our goodie bags.

But with the theme being surf's up, there are some surprises and fun things.

Fun, fun, fun.

Fun things ahead.

Tell me about the course.

It's the same, right around the block.

Ithaca NASCAR,

keep going

left.

It's just keep turning left.

Awesome.

We have some great help from the Sheriff's Department.

Every year they, you know, no parking around the inside lane.

The Ithaca first responders, Glenn Niemeyer always comes through for me, getting the cones, making sure that all the runners stay really, really safe.

The first responders do a fantastic job encouraging the runners on top of keeping them safe.

So we have some awesome help.

You cannot get lost though.

There is no windy, turny things anywhere.

You just circle the block two times if you're running, one time if you're walking.

And there are some families that just take a casual stroll, right?

Oh,

it's so fun.

Phil, it is so fun.

You have, so I'll use the Farjan family as an example.

They came out last year.

Luke, who was in second grade, won the entire race as he was

super tired at the end.

He was sitting down at the finish line and I went over to him and I said, bud, you just won $100.

And he looked at me and he said, what?

So Luke Farjan, a second grader, was actually the male champion of the Bulldog Block Challenge last year.

But the family all came out together.

Not all of them ran.

Some of them marked.

It was so great just to have a full family start the day with some exercise and some family fun.

And the big thing is you don't have to be an Ithaca district member.

You have people from all over doing

it.

Absolutely.

Yes.

We have actually the run club from Richland Center often has many members who take part in that.

So that's very, very fun.

But it's just a great way to get the day started to have

a fun way to support the Ithaca Foundation.

And the Ithaca Foundation has always done a great job of helping with funds above and beyond the budget.

I'm sure you have seen it on Highway 58.

Our most recent accomplishment was that huge marquee on Highway 58.

And that was such a community effort to get that done.

A great

Job by the Ithaca Foundation president Ron and the treasurers Steve and you know Annette and all those people in the Foundation had such a great push last year I think we raised close to fifteen thousand dollars just last year to finish that project and so So very proud to be a part of that foundation so very proud of the work that they're doing to keep The community involved in what's going on

at Ithaca School District.

It's just a great way to bring people together.

So that's what the race is donating to, is the Ithaca Foundation.

And so you know that your funds are going towards the school and the kids and the community.

It's a great opportunity to come together and serve together.

And the sign is a great addition.

I mean, you can kind of keep updated on things that are going

on.

Walk out to my front porch and I can see what's happening in the school district.

It's wonderful.

And just such a beautiful addition to, in my opinion, a beautiful district.

And the sign is all paid for.

Yeah.

So it's all done.

It's all done.

Any idea of the next project for the foundation?

That's a great question.

We have lots of ideas flying around.

I'm not

going to tell you the ideas because that's just.

I don't want to give our plan away.

That's a good answer.

But

I do know that we have some big ideas and we also have some smaller ideas that we can sprinkle in throughout the time that it takes to maybe hit a larger goal.

But very excited about future plans.

And just with the team we have with the Ithaca Foundation, sky's the limit.

We just we work really really well together and we're all focused on the success of the school district So I'm very excited for what's to come.

What's the time frame for the race and walk?

Great

question.

So if you get to the Ithaca town garage, that is the starting location Please do not park at the Ithaca town garage.

Please park at a parking lot

But get to the town garage at around 6.30, between 6.30 and 7.

The race start time is 7 o'clock.

We are typically done by 7.50, 7.45.

At that point, awards will be given and raffle prizes will be drawn.

But we do try and get the event done within the hour because of

the meat sales at eight.

We try and send people right to the next location.

And like the seniors brought up, there are a lot of food options for breakfast.

So do not worry, if you haven't eaten breakfast yet, go find some at the Ithaca School Fair.

Plenty of stuff there, that's for sure.

So it kicks off a very active day.

It does.

We don't want to really mention it again, but there could be some rain in the forecast, but you're planning this rain or shine,

right?

Yes.

So the only thing that will shut us down is lightning.

I will not

put people's lives in danger if that is the case.

But a slight drizzle, a slight mist to the running community is a blessing.

So I'm not scared of a little drizzle.

I'm not scared of a little mist.

But yes, keep your eyes open.

If there is any cancellation, we'll announce that on the Ithaca Fair page on Facebook.

And we'll figure out a way to get you your goodie bags that you won't go without.

Melissa said she is, did you say it?

She is the

weather.

And she said that it's not happening.

So we're just gonna move on.

But yeah, the race itself had just so much help this year.

Our sponsors have helped me every single year to the point where I walk in and they say, yep, that's all that needs to be said.

They are fantastic.

We have the monster cookies coming from Sunnyside, which is always a huge

people pleaser.

Our t-shirts, Pat McGee, at Garden Hill Graphics, has helped me every single year.

I tell him the idea, he makes it happen, and the quality of the work that he does is just stunning.

So this year, we had a little fun with it because it was surfed up.

We went black and white tie-dye with the classic

it's like a logo on it.

So it's a shirt that you can wear to any school event.

It's not niche to the run.

We're just very excited, very thankful for the sponsors that have helped us out this year.

That's a great shirt.

It is a great shirt.

We're a necktie with it or whatever.

Yes, you can dress it up for sure.

Well, we want to talk about the rest of the day's events.

And Melissa, bring you back in.

In terms of that day, it starts out really early for the animals on Saturday, doesn't

it?

Yes.

We want to have everything in place by 7.30.

So for our market animals, we like them to try to be getting there by 7.

So we can get them off through the scale and get everything weighed.

So we're ready to break classes.

And then that way, when our buyers are there, they know how many pounds of meat they're purchasing as well.

And then we rolled right into the shows at eight.

So Mike Huffer takes care of making sure that everything goes smoothly in the beef ring.

And then I handle the sheep and spine and goat ring.

And then we have other staff members that help with the rabbits and poultry judging.

So we have that all done before the parade.

So that way people have time to go and set up for the parade.

The lineup for the parade starts at 10.

And the actual parade starts at 10.30.

If you've not done a parade entry yet, get a hold of Rob Richards at Richards Insurance.

He's happy to get you

you all signed up for the parade.

We love to have a long parade.

We know that our route is short, but our parade is long.

So that's great.

And we love to see all the, you know, a lot of the kids that are in multiple, multiple places too.

So yeah, that's great.

I was referred to it as the biggest little parade because it is, and people that have never been there are surprised.

how long it lasts because it does, it goes on.

Yeah, especially if you're one of those people that got caught in traffic where you can't

get through and

you got to wait for their parade, they're like, oh my goodness.

Yes.

Which is great though, because it just shows you how much our community cares about that school district and about that community because I mean, we are one of the last school fairs out there.

And so we, you know, we need the support from the community to keep going.

And it just shows, I mean, and if you go, if you've not been to the parade, it is definitely something to see because there are people like five, six, seven,

deep on the whole parade mark.

Yeah, six, seven, six, seven.

Can you tell them a teacher?

I thought that went out last year, but I guess it's still a thing.

No, right.

Well, it's kind of, I don't know.

I try to keep up with their lingo.

So I at least know what they're talking about.

Um, but yeah, and they, lots of candy gets thrown out.

So if you're a candy person, do not worry.

If you do not have breakfast, don't worry.

There's candy.

We got you.

Um, yeah.

And then from there, you know, we have the meat animal sale right after that.

So head on over there and support that.

And at the sale this year, again, that we talked about, we have the cheese donations and the apples and that money goes to the FFA to help pay for like going to leadership conferences and things like that.

Um, those costs money.

For a one-day conference, it's usually anywhere from $55 to $75 per kid to go.

And that's just registration.

That's not transportation and stuff as well.

So we do look for help with that.

Rodney Schultz this year is donating some toy tractors.

So we'll have a couple of those there to auction off as well.

And then one of the things that we're going to be doing this year is, as many of you know, we lost one of our students at Ithaca.

Briggs Maxwell passed away just before school started.

And he had a pig that he was going to.

sell the sale and of course one of our very active FFA members.

He was excited because as a seventh grader he got to be on one of our CDE teams and was just a great part of the school and community and of our FFA.

So we've talked to the Maxwell family and we are going to sell his pig at the beginning of the sale and then that money is going to go towards scholarship fund that we're setting up there at the school.

Wonderful at the hog on Saturday night went well as well.

Yes, what I heard.

Yeah, absolutely.

It wasn't great.

I don't know what the final numbers are, but I know it was very high and that goes into memorial memorial fund too.

So yeah, so we're really excited about that being able to do that and honor Briggs because you know, we all miss him a lot and he was a great kid and like I said, just such a great part of everything he did.

So that's just a small way that we can, um, you know, honor him and keep his memory going there too.

So yeah, so we'll be doing that beginning the sale and then we

We have a few rabbits, I think we have two rabbits for sale, few poultry.

I think right now we have nine pigs, a goat, and there's like 10 steers.

So if you're wanting to fill up your freezer with some meat, it's a great way to do it and support those kids.

And like Annabeth talked before too, like if you

You know, don't need the meat or you don't, you know, like if you don't have a family to share a whole beef with or give for Christmas presents, I know some people do that.

They give a quarter beef to each of their kids for a Christmas present, something like that.

You can come support them the same way by just, you know, paying over the base price.

So yeah, definitely that.

And then Friday night, I just want to mention the block party a little bit more.

This was kind of one of those things for the last few years.

We keep thinking like, what are we doing Friday night?

There's nothing going on.

We got to make something happen.

So Courtney has volunteered to be part of making this block party happen.

We're super excited.

So it's kind of a combination between the FFA and the school fair committee, mainly Courtney, that's putting this together.

So the FFA is handling, having some concessions there.

We are going to do the bags tournament.

We have music.

We're going to have some live music there.

So you can kind of be able to.

Do you have some fun with that, the carnival games, and then Courtney's taking care of the sand volleyball part of it, so we're super excited.

I'm gonna let her talk just a little bit about the sand volleyball tournament, because it's a little bit different than what we've done in the past.

They bring sand in for it, Courtney, or how does it work?

Oh yes, bag by bag.

No.

In the back of our school, our beloved school, there is already one sand volleyball court.

And it came up in an Ethica Fair Committee meeting of, you know, if we had the block party in the back,

Could we use it?

I was like, well, I think we should try and make it happen.

The sand volleyball tournament will be run a little bit differently.

Typically in a tournament, you can have multiple games being played at one time and then it's a short.

With one sand volleyball, you have to get a little bit creative to make a full tournament happen within a three hour span of time.

So in our volleyball tournament, we're gonna have 20 minute maxes.

Whoever has the highest rally score moves on.

Whoever doesn't gets to enjoy the carnival games, the food, all the other things.

So you have to be a little bit more like flexible with this type of thing, but we have teams of two to four.

There is no cost this year because we're just trying it.

We are trying to get our feet wet with that a little bit and see how it goes.

Things to change.

But we already have four teams that are registered.

We don't need, but we would love to have four more.

And we do have prizes for the winners.

It will be very, very fun, very casual.

Just kind of a fun way to enjoy one another without being too, you know technical The rule I will be officiating and I will tell you right now the rules are not going to be super strict The rules will be for safety purposes, but otherwise.

Let's just have some fun It will be great.

We have a lot of things going on that night Melissa talked about the beanbag tournament

the sand volleyball, the music, the concessions.

We were also talking as a group about other things to bring in and the idea of iced coffee, like a coffee truck or dirty sodas came up.

And lo and behold, our beloved Liz Paul Vermacher actually started a coffee truck called Pony Espresso, which I thought was a genius name.

but she is coming in to the black party and she has different drinks that are available and her idea was so genius.

It is one size 16 ounce drinks all of them and they're six dollars.

Two dollars from every drink sold will be donated to the Briggs Maxwell Memorial Fund.

There are

five different dirty sodas.

There's the Bulldog Blast, the Mermaid Vibes, the Tropical Sunset, the Wave Rider, the High Tide.

She did a great job coming up with the Surf's Up theme.

And then she also had some Cold Brew options as well.

And I'm just so excited for her to come in, give her business a boost, but we benefit.

We benefit

from...

Give you some energy.

Let's do this.

So there's the island time ice coffee, the beach bum and the paradise pup and all of those are flavored ice coffees.

Um, we're just really excited.

I encourage you, even if you're not a part of any of these events, the beanbag tournament, the sand volleyball, please come.

This is a, it's a black party.

It's for the community to come together.

It's for the community to enjoy one another.

You don't need to be there for an exact purpose.

Your purpose can be community time.

Your purpose can be seeing one another and enjoying each other.

And what a great time right before homecoming to do that.

No doubt about it and kind of, you know, push it into Saturday and have a whole celebration for the weekend.

Our community is very unique in just the love that we have for one another and the longevity that our community, I mean, it's generational.

Everyone knows everybody.

And even though my husband and I were, we moved here

10 years ago, once you are in the community, you don't leave.

It's a beautiful place to live, to raise a family, and to love one another.

So I encourage you, let's do this together.

Let's enjoy one another.

Come out to the block party, come to the fair, take part in everything that it has to offer.

What a great opportunity.

No doubt.

Melissa, have you seen some numbers on like the vegetables and some of the entries and how that's going to look this year?

Yeah, we've been watching them throughout the week.

And yeah, it looks great.

Our numbers are pretty much online where they've been in the past.

So we're excited.

I mean, there's so much to see and do.

I don't know how you possibly do it all.

I do also want to mention, because I think we missed this, the band or music boosters are doing a pie auction as well.

So don't miss out on going up to the commons area.

It's a silent auction.

and put your name down there, bid hi, bid off, and get yourself some goodies and purchase the pie.

And then I also just want to touch real quick.

If it does rain Friday, which it's not going to, okay, we're just putting that out there.

It's not going to,

but Courtney said I

had to have a plan in case it rains.

So we came up with a plan.

So if it does rain, we do have a backup plan of where we're going to go.

So we'll have the volleyball down the community gym with the concessions and the carnival games and the coffee and stuff.

And then we'll do the bag streaming up into the multi-purpose room.

So we do have places to go where we can stay and recover, but it's going to be great.

I think we're going to have a great time with this.

super

excited to have something Friday night and again just really invite our community to come out and just be part of it and even if you just come in

Purchase a dirty soda or a coffee and grab a brat.

We're happy to

have you.

Absolutely.

Always good to have a plan B, though, I think, isn't it?

Yes,

it is.

And Kennedy did say with the music that if there's anyone that wants to karaoke, they absolutely can do some karaoke too.

Phil, that's you.

That's kind of scary.

We might, though.

We might.

We didn't talk a lot about the mascot race again, but do you have any idea of how the mascots are doing?

Who's entered into that?

I do.

I personally know one.

The mascot that I know that will be taking part in this race, takes it very seriously.

He loves the mascot race and he does very well.

He lives for it.

He really does.

The mascot race has been a true joy for our family especially.

The boys love cheering on that cow every year.

And it's the more mascots that are in, the more fun it is.

So I don't know, is there more time for the mascots to be entered or are they?

No, they can enter up.

If they want to show up that day,

we'll

take them.

I am calling all mascots.

Well, it's funny.

It's great for the crowd.

So you can bring in.

It's so fun.

Yeah, you can bring in the money bunny and Scoopy and all of the mascots from the area.

Again, it's what makes this community beautiful.

Everyone knows.

everybody or someone from somewhere and seeing all those mascots represented in one football field is pretty cool.

No doubt.

And the challenge is to beat the cow.

Beat the cow.

You've got to beat the cow.

He trains for

this.

Last year they made him start 10 yards behind.

It's a 50 yard mascot race and he raced 60 and he still did pretty well.

The mascot race is so dear.

to my husband that I believe it is the background on his Facebook wall.

This is not, this is not something that is just like, just an odd and end activity.

This is something near and dear to him.

And I challenge all mascots, calling all mascots, challenge my husband, the cow,

Saturday

to the mascot race.

Awesome.

Never thought I'd say that on the

radio.

And that's before the game.

And I know they have, I want to mention too, at halftime, it's always the Hall of Fame.

So Vince Whedon fell.

Congratulations.

He will be going in as the community service member.

And they're running the 1986 Ithaca football team first to make the WIA playoffs.

So a couple of great things going on at halftime.

Yes.

Real quick, Phil, I want to mention now that you talk about the football team, our football team was nominated for the player.

Yeah, team of the week, excuse me.