Jim Field visits with Cass County Conservation Naturalist Lora Kanning about the BioBlitz program.

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(Corning, Iowa) – Here’s what’s in-store for the final day of the Adams County Fair, in Corning, and a look ahead at some follow-up activities.

Tuesday – July 12th

7:00am 4-H Endowment Fund Breakfast

8:00am Dairy Show

9:00am Beef Show

12:00pm Non-Sale Livestock Released

1:00pm 4-H Dog Show

2:00-5:00pm Ag Day in the Pavilion

3:00pm-6:00pm Reach the Red

4:00pm Tall Corn Contest

4:30pm Fair Board BBQ

5:00pm Open Class Bottle Buckaroo Show

6:00pm Adams County Fair Sale

Wednesday – July 13th

8:00am Fair Clean Up

8:30am-5:00pm Static Project Pick Up

Saturday – July 16th

9:00am Carcass Learning and Results Announcement

The Adams County Fair began it’s five-day run on July 8th.

(Radio Iowa) – Some Iowa corn fields were battered or knocked over by last week’s storms and I-S-U Extension Field Agronomist Gentry Sorenson says over the next few days, the upper stalk of the corn may start to shift. “What’ll happen is the corn will ‘goose neck’ — that’s what they call it,” he says. “It’ll try to upright itself It’ll form a crook in the base of the stalk and it’ll upright itself using base roots, trying to get into an upright or verticle fashion.”  Goose necked corn creates headaches during harvest, as the corn cobs fall or break off before they’re captured by the combine.

The latest Iowa crop and weather report indicates the vast majority of Iowa’s corn crop is in good shape. The latest U-S-D-A analysis indicates there were pockets of crop damage from the derecho that swept through northern Iowa last week, but the report does not offer any estimate of the damage. Eighty-one percent of the corn crop is rated in good or excellent condition. Iowa’s soybean conditions: 79 percent in the good or excellent category.

Storms that rolled through dropped rain on parched areas of the state. The state climatologist says the statewide average precipitation last week was over two inches — twice what’s normal this time of year. Spirit Lake recorded the most rainfall for the past week — more than six inches.

(Radio Iowa) – The long-range forecasts are calling for hot and dry conditions to persist likely into August for Iowa and the rest of the Missouri River basin. Meteorologist Doug Kluck, the climate services director for the Central Region of the National Weather Service, says the outlook for the next month shows plenty of summertime heat for much of the nation’s midsection.

“Above-normal temperatures are going to be prevalent, Texas up through the Central Plains, really the whole probability extends all the way up to Canada,” Kluck says, “but the strongest and probably the warmest and the biggest anomalies are going to be to the Central and Southern Plains.” While large sections of Iowa have seen a few plentiful rain showers in recent days, Kluck says less precipitation is expected going forward over the next month.

“Precipitation outlook, not a strong forecast here,” Kluck says, “but below normal for the Southern and Central Plains, Lower Basin, Missouri Basin, and then equal chances elsewhere for the most part.” He says the forecast models point to a slightly-elevated chance for below-normal precipitation for Iowa and the region. The U-S Army Corps of Engineers is predicting runoff into the Missouri River system will be far below-normal through the end of the year.

(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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