By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Although fair entries were down across classes this year due to COVID-19, the Ellis County Fair still attracted a variety of handicrafts, items fresh from local ovens, and vegetables and flowers carefully selected from local gardens and fields.
Ellis County is not requiring masks in public, but some fair judges wore masks and required participants to also wear masks during judging at the fair this week.
Hand sanitizer was readily available, and the vendor fair, which is usually set up in the Unrein Building, was scrapped. This allowed for more room for social distancing.
Rylee Hockersmith, 17, will be a senior in the fall at Victoria High School. He earned a reserve champion ribbon in 4-H visual arts for his fully functional guitar.
The silver guitar, painted with heavy metal themes — Hockersmith's favorite genre — was modeled after a Dean Dixie Rebel guitar, but the paint job was original.
"I played it last night and today, and it seems to work as it should," he said.
Hockersmith, who is in the Victoria Vikings 4-H chapter, started his project in September, molding the guitar from a piece of oak and walnut.
He finished the airbrushing on the piece just last week.
He invested about $200 in the wood and components and about 30 hours of labor into the guitar's construction.
Hockersmith started playing guitar several years ago. He made another guitar last year, a solid walnut piece with a natural wood finish that was modeled after a Gibson Explorer. He also entered that guitar into the fair and won a purple award.
Hockersmith said he plans to make one or two more guitars for the fair again next year.
Kylie Dreiling, 16, a junior at Thomas More Prep-Marian, brought in several examples of wheel-thrown pottery that she had made as entry into the 4-H visual arts division.
She entered a simple bowl with a footing, a mug, and a jar with a lid.
"I figured out that I loved the wheel,"Dreiling said, a member of the Big Creek Astros. "It just fit."
She said she continues to learn potting skills, including crafting handles and creating footings. She said she went through several different versions of her mug handle before she found the right one.
Dreiling said she was excited when her judge said she would like to drink out of her mug every day.
Dreiling said she would be returning to the fair later this week for cattle, chicken and poster judging.
She said she was disappointed to learn that the state fair would be canceled, but was happy despite the craziness that Ellis County held its fair.
The fair continues through the rest of the week.
The Schenk Building will be open for public viewing from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday. Free root beer floats sponsored by Midland Marketing will be offered at 5 p.m. Thursday in the show arena.
Monster trucks will be featured at the fair at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights. There will be a pit party from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
A full schedule can be found on the fair website. You can also follow the fair on Facebook.
