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Old-time fun stays alive at community show

Ingrid Mezo


Jerry Black, (above) of Sabillasville, uses his muscles during the cross cut log sawing contest at the Community Show at Catoctin High School on Sunday afternoon. 
Photos by Tom Fedor⁄The Gazette

(9/14) While much has changed over the years at the Emmitsburg Community Show, the old-fashioned farm community feeling remained alive there last weekend.

This was the 50th anniversary of the show in Thurmont, though it originally started before that in Emmitsburg.

A new generation exhibited at the show this year. They included children who raise livestock under the tutelage of the FFA, artists who exhibit their work for judgment and gardeners who tried to grow the perfect potato in the hopes of a prize. Others placed their pets into competition for categories such as ‘‘dog with the wiggliest tail," and ‘‘cat with the prettiest eyes."

Brady Lambert, 10, a student at Lewistown Elementary School, for the first time auctioned off a hog for $250.

The pig, which Brady did not name, dozed lazily among other pigs in a pen as Brady excitedly climbed over the fence to point her out. He got her in May, though she was born in March, he said.

‘‘I had to feed her and water her, and scrub the pig pen out before and after school," Brady said. ‘‘I liked showing, and the judge asked me questions, and I knew every single one of them."

Those questions centered on the pig’s weight, her breed (she is a cross), what he fed her, ‘‘and that’s mostly it," Brady said.

Dianne Ogg, 26, was one of two FFA advisors at the show, and helped advise Brady.

This year, the FFA Alumni held a raffle and a barbecue to benefit the group’s scholarship fund, and the chapter held a fish toss, Ogg said.

Ogg graduated from Frederick High School, and is now a Thurmont resident. She became involved in the FFA in high school 13 years ago, she said, and though she was a city girl, she raised beef, sheep, and swine.

In northern Frederick County, ‘‘kids have more of an agricultural background and support from the community," Ogg said.

Lauren Schur, 10, a Sabillasville Elementary student, showed her lamb, Rizzo, in a less traditional competition, but one that has been around for quite a while at the show — the decorated animal contest.

Lauren and Rizzo, named after the character in ‘‘Grease," were dressed as pink ladies, and Rizzo did not appreciate her costume one bit. Onlookers laughed as she bucked, and ‘‘baah-ed."

‘‘She’ll wear the same costume at the [Great Frederick Fair], and at the fair there will be a story line and an announcer," Lauren’s mother, Tracy Schur, said. ‘‘She’s calm until she puts her booties on, and she really didn’t like the leather hat, either."

Ashley Ridenour, 9, a student at Emmitsburg Elementary, and her schnauzer, O’Shea, were the only other competitors in the decorated animal contest. They won the competition. The two performed a charade with O’Shea taking a bubble bath in a wooden tub.

Ashley said she thought O’Shea had taken the prize because ‘‘she’s small and she fits in the bathtub, and I don’t think they had any other bathtub dogs."

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