Illinois Master Showmanship Contest

Kari McKinney is the Brownfield team member who coordinates Brownfield's sponsorship and involvement in the Illinois Master Showmanship Contest.  She and Tom Steever had a fabulous time at the event, held earlier this week:

Brownfield is one of the many sponsors for the Illinois Master Showmanship Contest and every year the farm broadcasters are able to help out with making sure the contest runs smoothly.  On Wednesday, August 6th, Tom Steever and I traveled to Springfield, Illinois for this year’s contest.  Fifty-one participants, the most the contest has had in its 9 years, were divided into 6 groups to show beef, swine, and sheep in a round robin style after they took a written test.  I was in charge of rounding up the participants for the beef entry, while Tom was in the Sheep and Swine ring introducing each of the participants and entertaining the crowd. After the total scores were calculated, Tom and I were in charge of handing out the money to each of the participant ($50 cash) and being the first to congratulate each one of them on a great job showing.  It was wonderful to meet all the youth and to help out with the contest. I was saying before the contest started if I didn’t step in anything or get kicked by a cow (which didn’t happen!) that it was going to be a great night. But I am sure that even if that happened, I would have had the best time and one heck of a story!  To see a list of all the winners, check out our 2008 Illinois Master Showmanship page.

-Kari McKinney