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Contestants Nessa Gross, TJ Kline and Molly Kramer show sheep during a Share the Ring Showmanship event at the Mercer County Fair on Wednesday afternoon.
CELINA - TJ Kline, Nessa Gross and Molly Kramer, and sheep Velma, Fred and Shaggy were met with smiles and cheers from the Coldwater Young Farmers Arena audience on Wednesday afternoon, as the inaugural Share the Ring Showmanship event went off without a hitch.
The Share the Ring event is a free livestock show where individuals with differing or developmental disabilities are paired with junior fair 4-H members to show rabbits, sheep or dairy cows at the Mercer County Fair.
The event is collaboration between Mercer County Board of Developmental Disabilities (DD) and the Mercer County Fair, and was thought up after fair staff attended an International Association of Fairs & Expos conference last fall.
"It really sparked, 'OK, how can we do better?'" fair manager Cara Muhlenkamp had said. "It made us think of what we're doing around here and how we can do better with everything."
Fair officials quickly reached out to Mercer DD for support and knowledge on the subject, Muhlenkamp added.
"We don't know what we don't know," she had said. "That was where the conversation developed, and we started from there. It's important for everybody to be able to come (to the fair)."
The event kicked off on Saturday with a rabbit show and finished on Wednesday with a dairy show followed by a sheep show.
Junior fair and Philothea Hustlers 4-H club member Courtney May of Fort Recovery offered her grand champion sheep, named after beloved Scooby-Doo characters, to the participants and taught them all about the livestock prior to the show.
The trio showed the sheep as a group, circling the arena several times to raucous applause and adulation from the audience.
Molly Kramer, 5, Celina, smiles as she shows a sheep at the Mercer County Fair.
Participant Molly Kramer of Celina, 5, was met with loud cheers from her family each time she rounded the ring.
Her father Kevin Kramer said the family always looks for ways Molly, who uses a wheelchair, can participate in the fun.
"You don't anticipate kids like Molly being able to do stuff like this," he said. "Watching my nieces and nephews show, we thought it would be a great idea."
Molly was joined in the show ring by her cousin Myla Kramer, who offered her a bit of support.
"Seeing the smiling faces of the kids, it was incredible," said Rachel Reichert, who serves as the fairground's social media designer. "It was amazing, and working with Mercer DD has been an amazing experience as well."
Following the show, participants left with big blue ribbons.
Nessa Gross carries her blue ribbon as she walks a sheep at the Mercer County Fair on Wednesday.
Although the program didn't attract as many participants as anticipated, Reichert said the inclusive livestock shows will definitely return next year.
"We didn't have the participation like we thought we would this year, but being the first year, we are very happy with it," she said.
Mercer County DD superintendent Shawn Thieman said the event had three individuals participate in the sheep show, 15 in the dairy show and six in the rabbit show.
"We might do it a little differently (next year)," Thieman said. "Asking people to sign up in April and May, for a fair that's in August, hopefully we can wait until July to do sign ups. Then, maybe we can reach out and utilize our day programs."
Still, he said the event turned out to be amazing and that all of the participants were very happy to work with the animals, not to mention those beautiful blue ribbons.
"They were more excited about the ribbons," Thieman said. "Some of them said they were going to hang it in their rooms. They were wearing them already."
