Amherst County residents of all ages gathered for a weekend excursion of entertaining games and rides, informative demonstrations and exhibits, livestock competitions and more at the Amherst County Fair Sept. 4-7.
Cole Shows Amusement Company set up more than 20 rides for children and adults to enjoy such as a swing ride that rose to the sky, a drop tower and roller coasters, among others. There were also various fair games — a bottle ring toss, balloon pop and basketball — each with prizes ranging from small plushies to stuffed animals that were nearly too large to carry.
Many light-hearted competitions filled the fair schedule, including a donut on a string contest and a chicken call competition.
The fair, planned by the Amherst County Agriculture Committee, took place at E Sweet Briar Drive.
Fair Coordinator Eric Bowen explained the purpose of the event.
“The fair is a way that Amherst County can give back to the citizens of the county, and it’s a chance for us to showcase some of the agriculture and opportunities within the county,” Bowen said.
The Mutton Bustin’ event returned for the second year over the weekend: children 55 pounds and under faced the challenge to hold onto a sheep for eight seconds. Staff closely monitored the children and kept them safe as they fell off the sheep.
“It (the sheep riding event) gives kids an opportunity to see a side of agriculture,” Bowen said. “They may see the sheep driving down the road in the field, but not actually ever get to interact with them.”
On Friday evening, the Amherst Fire Department held an extrication challenge, which they explained included four five-member firefighter teams competing to “stabilize a vehicle, remove glass, remove doors, remove roof and extricate patient using equipment provided.”
As the teams raced to rescue the manikin from the vehicles, the crowd had the opportunity to witness the lifesaving efforts that the local heroes have been trained to execute. A Centra One helicopter even arrived to demonstrate how a patient would be airlifted to a hospital from the scene of an accident.
Amherst Fire Department Chief Tom Martin explained how important it is to rescue a patient trapped in a wrecked vehicle.
“When we have an incident like this, a motor vehicle crash, there’s something called the golden hour. … The clock starts ticking when the call comes out, when the accident happens, so the faster that we can get access to the patient, remove them from the vehicle and get them to a trauma center, … it increases their chance of survivability exponentially,” Martin said.
The competing teams included Amherst Fire Department, Monelison Fire Department, Concord Fire Department and Amherst County Fire & EMS. Monelison Fire Department took first place while Amherst County Fire & EMS took second and Concord Fire Department finished third.
The equipment, vehicles and transportation of the vehicles were provided by Fire & Safety Equipment Company, Martin’s Paint & Body Shop and Buster’s Garage, respectively.
A new event at this year’s county fair was the Lawn Tractor Pull on Saturday. Held by the Shenandoah Valley Tractor Pullers, racers used their modified lawn tractors to pull “The Hammer” — a weighted vehicle — across the fairgrounds.
For more information about upcoming events in Amherst, which is less than 30 minutes from Liberty’s campus, visit the Amherst County Facebook page at facebook.com/countyofamherst.
Sturek is the off-campus news editor for the Liberty Champion.