County fair is hard work, fun too; just ask 11-year-old Glenn and his 11 animals

From cows, to chickens, to pigs, to rabbits, kids and teens at the Montgomery County Fair were hard at work Thursday, brushing, walking, and preparing their animals for their shows.

Especially busy was Glenn Morris, an 11-year-old from the small northern Montgomery community of Union. Glenn has been participating in the animal showings all week, but spent Thursday morning prepping his rabbits and chickens for their shows later in the day.

His rabbits were there for the Jackpot Rabbit Show and his chickens and ducks for the Championship show.

“This guy (his duck) is 2 years, and ducks are the easiest, because they’ll just bathe themselves,” he said.

While the county fair has everything from band concerts to carnival rides, and funnel cake to demolition derbies, county and fair officials have gone out of their way this week to spotlight the importance of the young 4-H members showing their animals at the fair.

Glenn Morris has been participating in fair showings for the past 4 years, and when asked how many animals he had, his immediate answer was, “A lot.”

He has at least 14 animals in total and 11 being shown at the fair — seven chickens and ducks, three rabbits, and a cow.

Some of his animals were part of the market show, and sold earlier in the week.

“They come into it with the understanding that all the market animals are raised for food, so he has that in the back of his head and he’s ready for it — it’s all part of being a farmer,” said Glenn’s father, Dan Morris.

Glenn also explained that an interesting part of raising the rabbits that he sold at the market showings was that they would go toward feeding animals at the zoo.

Outside of the market showing, Glenn was able to show off one of his favorite animals in other shows, like his chicken, Omelet, who was participating in the Champion show that day.

Glenn said that participating was a lot of hard work, especially so for the bunnies. But the animals themselves make it worth it.

Despite all of the hard work that Glenn has done, he was still able to have a little fun with his animals.

El Toro, Afquack, Baby, and Mama were just some of the ducks and chickens that the judges would be seeing from him later in the day.

For the rest of the 4-H kids, there are several other showings left for the rest of the week such as the Showman’s Showmen show, 4-H horse riding, and goat and hog market shows on Friday.

The fair will continue to run through Saturday evening.