Johnson County fair-goers can put the “I” in “FAIR” with a new photo opportunity on the midway.
A large metal fixture on the midway at the Johnson County 4-H and Agricultural Fair is a new space for those attending the fair to capture memories with a picturesque background of the fair.
Human-sized letters “F” “A” and “R,” are meant to spell out “FAIR” when people stand in between the “A” and “R” as the “I.” The letters “JoCo,” an abbreviation for “Johnson County,” on the “F” complete the sign to say “JOCO FAIR” when people pose for a photo.
This new permanent fixture was made by the 2023 4-H Honor Group as one of their projects for the fair this year. The honor group started 19 years ago by a group of adult advisors, including the late Max Fitzpatrick and current advisor Amy Kelsay. The honor group is made up of 4-Hers who are in their last year of 4-H, and they learn about leadership and teamwork by taking on a project to improve the fairgrounds each year.
Projects typically come from suggestions by the Johnson County Fair Board, and the members can pick what they want to tackle. This year, the honor group took on three projects. One included painting the outside of the indoor arena, and the bathroom near it.
They also took on the task to create new photo-ops around the fairgrounds. Part of that entailed painting various smaller wooden signs, where people can stick their heads in cutouts to take photos.
When thinking about photo spots, members were inspired by the Indiana State Fair metal “FAIR” sign where people can be the “I.” They wanted to make a sign like that for fair-goers to capture photos, but they also wanted to make it unique to Johnson County.
“The fair board gave us the option of photo-ops and we thought of the State Fair sign, and that was something we really wanted to do,” Honor Group member Karlee Monday said. “But we wanted to add the ‘JoCo’ on the side to kind of make it our own.”
Members put in hours of work to get all three projects completed by fair time. One member, Jasper Carter, welded a portion of the sign himself. His dad owns a welding business, so Carter took on the task of welding, and his dad’s company finished the more difficult parts, he said.
“I spent countless hours, probably about 20 hours on that sign,” Carter said.
He welded the “A” and the “R,” and worked on some of the “F. The finishing touches to make the smaller “JoCo” letters were handed off to his dad’s company.
“Big square letters, that’s easy. It’s when you get to round things, that’s when it gets tough,” Carter said.
Honor group projects are entirely funded by donors, and the 12 members of this year’s group divided up to collect donations for all three of their projects, member Amsi Cory said. Some local businesses sponsoring the projects this year were the Historic Artcraft Theatre, Small Town Pizza in Trafalgar, Beeson Mechanical Service and Bailey and Wood Financial Group.
“We all spread out in groups around the county,” Cory said. “Jasper and I, for instance, went through downtown (Franklin) Saturday. Other groups went to Trafalgar … and another went to Greenwood. It was a big team effort to get all the sponsors.”
They also had to figure out where to put the sign, which they ultimately decided on the midway, with the Ferris wheel as a background.
“The whole idea with the FAIR fixture is they wanted it to be something permanent. We were trying to find a spot that when you took the picture, it had the best backdrop,” Kelsay said. “It’s difficult when there’s nothing set up to try to visualize where it’s going to be.”
Members are happy with how the large fair sign turned out, and they are pleased with its popularity so far with different people at the fair finding creative ways to take photos with it. A couple also got engaged at the sign, according to a video posted on the Johnson County Fair’s official Instagram page.
“We’re really happy with how it turned out,” member Rachel McDonald said. “… It was something that we, and like the fair had never done before, so we were like ‘this could go really great, or go really bad.’”
This project is special to the group members because of its uniqueness, and the lasting legacy it leaves for them now as a permanent fixture for anyone to capture fair memories for years to come.
“We wanted to leave something that was our mark. Every Honor Group does something, and we wanted our project to stand out, and I think it does,” Cory said.
“It feels really nice, especially since we’ve heard rumors that this was the best honor group project. Not to brag,” Carter said.
All of the members of the Honor Group this year are 10-year 4-Hers, which was special to Monday, she said. They grew up on the fairgrounds, and now they get to leave their lasting mark there, she said.
“Being a 10-year member, you’ve spent hours here doing projects and working on the fairgrounds … so getting to leave your last mark as a 4-Her is really special,” Monday said. “Knowing you can come back each and every year and see it, knowing that you took part in it, it’s a really feel-good moment.”
For Honor Group member Tyler Rumble, one of the reasons he joined the honor group was because he wanted to leave his mark on the fairgrounds he and his family spend so much time at each year.
“I remember thinking, ‘I want to do that. I want to leave my mark on the fairgrounds,’” Rumble said.
A big part of the honor group is learning the values of leadership and teamwork. That was one of the main takeaways members said they left with after working on these projects.
“I definitely took away that teamwork is the best. That’s what gets things done,” Cory said.
Fair-goers still have a chance to enter to win prizes by posting their best photos with the FAIR sign or at other photo spots around the fairgrounds. People can enter to win by posting their photos on social media with the tag #jcf23. The 4-H Honor Group will then pick the best photos to win a prize.
Greenwood High School student Isaac Robinson, who is job-shadowing at the Daily Journal, contributed to this report.
