(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – For the second year in a row, Guthrie County ISU Extension & Outreach is offering the Wild Places in Guthrie County tourism event! Each year they select five different locations in Guthrie County to explore. A flyer provides you coordinates to each location and a list of a few activities that you can do once you get to each location. “We try to find different areas around that county that hit on recreation, history, and places that you might not even know about and then we create an educational video for each location with the help of local experts,” said Mollie Clark, Youth Coordinator.

With this event, you can really go at your own pace once you have the flyer with the information on it. First pick one of the mystery locations to visit then follow the coordinates to get there. Once you have arrived at the location find the flyer with QR codes on them. Scan the large QR code to watch a video to learn more about the site you are visiting. Make sure to take some time to explore each site, there are suggestions listed with each location on the flyer. Pick a new site and repeat this adventure until you hit all five locations! Make sure to scan the QR code to check in at each site so we can track how many people participate.

Guthrie County Extension is offering a mystery prize to two lucky people. To be entered in a drawing for a prize take a picture at each location. Post your pictures on Facebook, tag Guthrie County Extension, and #GuthrieCountyWildThings. If you post entries at all five locations, you’ll receive 5 extra entries. All entries will be due by July 18th, 2022.

“We had a few different goals with this event when we started it in 2021. We hope to help stimulate the local economy by promoting tourist locations, provide a family friendly all ages event to the citizens of Guthrie County and surrounding areas, and get people outdoors exploring the different amenities that Guthrie County has to offer. We had a great response last year and are excited to be able to bring it back for a second year,” said Krista Downing, Program Coordinator.

For more information or to download the flyer for this year, please visit our website at https://www.extension.iastate.edu/guthrie/. If you have any questions about the tourism event please feel free to reach out to the Guthrie County ISU Extension office at 641-747-2276.

Monday – July 11th

7:00am-3:00pm Senior Day Activities

7:30am Swine Show

8:00am Tractor Ride / Tractor Show

11:00am Rabbit and Small Pet Show (or following conclusion of Swine show)

1:00pm Livestock Judging Contest

1:00pm-4:30pm Antique Day

5:00pm Pedal Pull (check-in at 4:30pm)

5:00pm Rural Development BBQ

6:00pm 4-H Foundation and State Fair Awards – Fashion Show, Share the Fun, Working Exhibits

7:00pm Rodeo (T&C Rodeo Company)

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa State Fair’s C-E-O and a key official in the Iowa COUNTY fair circuit say concerts are a growing emphasis to spur fair attendance. Tom Barnes, executive secretary of the Mighty Howard County Fair, is also executive director of the Association of Iowa Fairs.  “There’s a lot of other things at the fair that we want to brag about and push, but we’ve got to get the people there first,” Barnes says, “and that’s what the concerts will do.”

Rodeos and race track events were the bread and butter of county fairs not too many years ago, according to Barnes, but a handful of county fairs started emphasizing concert entertainment about eight years ago and the trend spread. “Fairs were seeing what their neighbors were doing and now we’re seeing a lot of even small county fairs throwing a small-dollar concert,” Barnes says. “It gives the community something else to come to the fair for.” Gary Slater, the General Manager and C-E-O of the Iowa State Fair, says about 10 percent of people who attend the Iowa State Fair go to a show at the Grandstand — but the performances matter to those who do NOT attend a concert.

“That’s the pulse of the Fair,” Slater says. “Whether you attend the Grandstand or not, you like to know what’s going on and you like the Fair to pull those popular entertainers.” The Fair spent a million dollars renovating the Grandstand stage in 2018, to meet artists’ expectations for video screens, lighting and sound systems. “We had to get into that business or else they wouldn’t come to an outdoor state fair venue,” Slater says. “…It’s an expensive thing.”

Every concert-goer has to buy a ticket to enter the fairgrounds and Slater says when expenses and profits are calculated from the Grandstand, they aim to break even. The 2022 Iowa State Fair runs from August 11th through the 21st this year.

Here’s a list of area County Fairs:

• The Adams County Fair concludes its full, 5-day run, on Tuesday
• Audubon, July 13-17
• Shelby County Fair, July 13-18
• Montgomery County Fair, July 19-24
• Adair, July 20-24
• Pottawattamie County Fair, July 20-24
• Cass, July 27-Aug. 2
• Guthrie County Fair, Sept. 1st thru the 5th

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Bryan York of Atlantic was recently selected as the first recipient of the Delores & Gail Nelson Cass County 4-H Scholarship. The scholarship was established to honor the Nelsons’ strong support of the Cass County 4-H program throughout their lives, both as youth members and adult volunteers. The scholarship is for a Cass County 4-H’er who has been active in 4-H and has demonstrated strong leadership skills. The student must be enrolled as an incoming freshman at a four-year college or university in the state of Iowa.

Bryan has been an active member of the Bear Grove Blazers 4-H club for 10 years.

Bryan York

He has participated in fair projects in the areas of Photography, Home Improvement, Visual Arts, Sewing, Food and Nutrition, Gardening, and Woodworking.  He has been active in his club community service projects, served in every office and currently is his club president. At the county level, Bryan is on the Youth Council and the Youth Action Committee. He has also participated in the SOFA and State 4-H conference trips multiple times and has received three project awards while in high school. Bryan will be a freshman computer engineering student at Iowa State University this fall.

(Corning, Iowa) – The Adams County Fair, “Memories in the Making,” continues its run through Tuesday, in Corning. Here’s what’s on the schedule for today (Sunday, July 10th):

8:00am 5K Color Run (registration at 7:30am)

8:30am Sheep/Goat/Alpaca Show

9:00am Fair Fundraiser Breakfast

9:00am Open Pet Show

12:00pm Fair Parade:

• The Parade starts at Grove Park.
• Head East on 10th Street.
• Turn South on Benton Street.
• Head back East on Ninth Street.
• South on Main Street
• East on Seventh Street *Crosses Hwy 148*
• Proceed on Seventh until it turns into John Street.
• Then head North on John Street and turn into the Adams County Fairgrounds.
  

  Adams County Fair Parade route, 7/10/22

1:00pm Poultry Skillathon

2:00pm Puppet Show

3:00pm Baby Contest (registration at 2:30pm)

3:30pm Family Fair Tours

4:00pm Puppet Show

5:00pm Quilts of Valor

7:00pm Dairyland Donkey Ball

Chris Parks and Cass/Adair County Conservation Officer Grant Gelly talk about all things outdoors. This week they touch on water safety, frog and turtle harvesting rules, bird banding, and the new Iowa Park Passport.

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Lakes and rivers were busy during the Independence Day holiday and that is expected to continue throughout the summer — with many people trying their hand at kayaking. D-N-R river programs outreach coordinator, Todd Robertson, says you shouldn’t head out onto rivers without doing a little preparation.

He said learning and working on some basic paddling strokes can be very beneficial.

He says you have to be prepared for both ends of the spectrum from swollen lakes, to ones that are down.

Robertson says kayaks have been flying off the shelves the last couple of years.

Robertson says. He says the D-N-R has a kayak and canoe school you can access on their website on how to paddle. They also offer classes and Robertson says some retailers that sell boats that actually give short lessons. Robertson recommends before you buy a kayak or canoe that you rent one and they’ll give you some quick instruction. He says there are also a lot of online videos that can be helpful in learning about paddling.

The Cass County Conservation Board has partnered with the Atlantic Public Library for a Cass County #PlantWildflowers BioBlitz Informational Presentation. Lora Kanning, the Cass County Conservation Naturalist will be explaining how to participate in the upcoming Cass County #PlantWildflowers BioBlitz. Learn how to participate in this day long biological census. A BioBlitz aims to promote and improve local natural spaces by empowering citizens to better understand and protect biodiversity. It is a Citizen Science program similar to tagging Monarch butterflies and the Backyard Bird Count. This presentation will focus on how to use the applications from a smartphone or tablet and submit the users’ observations. The presentation will be held at the Atlantic Public Library Community Room on Wednesday July 13th 6 PM. Kanning will also be available for troubleshooting during the BioBlitz at the Atlantic Public Library Community Room Saturday July 16th 12 PM-2PM. We hope you will join us for this great public program.

#PlantWildflowers BioBlitz is a daylong biological census. The public can use an application called iNaturalist to submit their Cass County Observations anytime throughout the day on July 16th. A BioBlitz aims to promote and improve local natural spaces by empowering citizens to better understand and protect biodiversity.

These programs are made possible through a grant from the #Plantwildflowers Initiative with PBS Nature and HHMI Tangled Studios that the Atlantic Public Library applied for.

Cass County Extension is set to host Food Preservation 101. which is a two-hour overview of general food preservation principles. The class includes current recommendations for canning, freezing and drying, display of equipment and utensils and sources for safe and tested food preservation information.  The program will be held on Thursday, July 14 from 6 to 8 pm at the Cass County Extension office, 805 W. 10^th Street in Atlantic. There is a $10 fee for the program, but scholarships are available upon request. To ensure adequate materials are available for all participants, pre-registration is required by Wednesday July 13^th.

Call 712-243-1132 for more information and to register for the class, or visit https://go.iastate.edu/5NFQDZ to register online. A full list of all food preservation resources and upcoming classes can also be found online at the Preserve the Taste of Summer Home Page- https://www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/preserve-taste-summer.

ISU Extension offers a library of publications with recipes and instructions for preserving a wide variety of foods, from fruits and vegetables to pickles and meats. These publications are available as free downloads on the ISU Extension Store at https://store.extension.iastate.edu/, or can be picked up at your local ISU Extension Office.

Information will also be shared at this program about ISU Extension’s more in-depth food preservation workshop series; Preserve the Taste of Summer. This series of hands-on food preservation workshops is a great opportunity for those who want to go beyond the basics, according to Fuller. The cost of each workshop is $40 and Cass County Extension is planning to host a session Salsa Making on Saturday, August 13^th – Scholarships are also available for this class upon request.  Additional topics, including jams, pickles, and dehydrating will be offered at locations around Iowa throughout the summer.

In addition to learning the basics of food safety, Extension staff remind home canners that dial gauge pressure canners should be tested annually for accuracy. Dial gauges will be tested at the end of the program on July 14 free of charge, or lids can be dropped off at the Cass County Extension office at any time for free testing.

Home food preserves can also get answers to food preservation questions by calling ISU Extension and Outreach’s toll-free AnswerLine. Experts answer questions Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon and from 1– 4 p.m. In Iowa: 1-800-262-3804; Relay Iowa phone linkage for deaf/hard-of-hearing individuals, 1-800-735-2942

Questions can also be emailed to answer@iastate.edu .  Frequently asked questions and other resources are available at the AnswerLine website, www.extension.iastate.edu/humansciences/answerline.

All of these resources and more will be showcased at the Food Preservation 101 Workshop July 14th, so be sure to call or go online to pre-register today!

The Adams County Fair gets rolling today in Corning. The fair kicked off with the Horse Show that started at 9:00 a.m. The Shooting Sports Exhibition is schedule at 3:00 p.m. at the Gun Club at Lake Binder. Then at 5:00 p.m. they will have the Extension Kick-Off BBQ followed by the Adams County Queen Coronation and Little Mr. and Miss crowning. The first day will wrap up with a concert by Logan Mize with special guest Steven Bankey and the Flatlanders at 7:00 p.m.

The Adams County Fair runs through July 12th. We’ll have live video coverage on KJANTV of the Swine Show on Monday and the Beef Show on Tuesday.