A family tradition was honored at the Shelby County Fair Thursday night. The family of Harriet and AnnaJean Ahrenholtz were surprised when Shelby County Fair President Kent Ganzer recognized them for the dedication and donation to the Shelby County Fair. This year, the Ahrenholtz family donated $60,000 to the board for the all new show ring. Clark Ahrenholtz, son of Harry and AnnaJean said the family wanted to honor their parents.

“Well my parents were always big promoters of the fair. My dad was president of the fair board and my brother and nephew carry on the tradition and we are happy about that. The show ring was something that was needed for a long time here. When it was put up originally, it was actually put up with used materials and we were happy with that at the time but we wanted to do something that mom and dad weren’t able to do when they were alive. We decided this would be a project that if we could kick into it and get the ball rolling. We would like to thank the Shelby County Fair Board because without them this wouldn’t be possible for us to recognize our parents”

Ahrenholtz said almost all of the family was able to come and be a part of the festivities. “I can start at the bottom that’s me. I am the last surviving child of my parents. I wasn’t raised to last but I am the last one. My sister Jane from Tuscan and her husband Rich were up. Then Annette and her husband were unable to attend due to health concerns. And then my brother Roger, who really took over from my dad as Mister Fair to make everything happen and we are getting Justin broke in on that. And then my oldest brother Harry was down from Jefferson.”

Clark said the family is fifth generation in showing cattle at the Shelby County Fair. He said the family is proud to call Shelby County home. “It takes a whole community effort. Like I said we want to remain humble about this because that’s the way our parents were. They kind of make you toot your own horn a little bit when it happens like this here. But we are just proud and very happy to be apart of this community and support the community this way.”

(Joel McCall/KNOD)