Shelby’s Fairchild takes first place in Showman of Showmen contest

MANSFIELD — Cadence Fairchild and Kelsey Snyder stood side by side as their peer’s names were called.

Fifth place, fourth place, third. . .

Finally it was just the two of them, waiting to see which would be the newest Showman of Showmen at the Richland County Fair.

“Second place, Kelsey Snyder!”

Snyder immediately turned to Fairchild and gave her a congratulatory hug.

This year’s Showman of Showmen contest featured seven contestants, each exhibiting seven distinct species. Each exhibitor qualified for the competition by earning the top showmanship rank within their species earlier in the week. An individual can only compete for the Showman of Showmen once in their junior fair career.

Fairchild, 15, is a member of the Bibs and Boots 4-H Club and Shelby FFA chapter. She qualified after earning top marks for showmanship in the swine division.

The other competitors included Ava Heimlick (horse), Caroline Tilton (beef steer), Ryleigh Chase (poultry), Isaiah Cronch (rabbit) and Reese Cook (goat).

Fairchild has been showing swine for six years. She also shows lambs. But on Friday, she and the other showmanship contestants entered unfamiliar territory — sometimes presenting animals they hadn’t shown before.

After qualifying in the swine show, Fairchild sought out friends to help her prepare for the contest.

“I learned how to show rabbits from a good friend — same with steers and goats,” she said.

Since she qualified Wednesday night, Fairchild only had one day to prepare.

“I’ve never shown a horse, never showed a steer. Those were new,” she said. “I’ve shown goats before. It’s been a really long time. My sister shows chickens, so I’m familiar with those. And then rabbits are new too.”

Working with the steer and the goat proved to be the most challenging.

“First the goat wouldn’t walk, but then he got going,” Fairchild said. “He wouldn’t set his legs very well either. The steer — they’re just big. They’re powerhouses.”

Like many fair competitors, showing animals runs in Fairchild’s family. Her two younger siblings also show animals at the junior fair.

“My parents were in (4-H) when they were younger and they always loved it. So we joined up,” she said.

Nick Fairchild was proud to see his daughter take the title. He believes participating in 4-H has benefitted his children.

“They’re gonna learn quite a lot here, whether it’s working with animals or working with people,” he said. “It’s real life skills that’ll help them succeed.”

Hard work and dedication are key to good showmanship. It takes time to get familiar with an animal species, how it behaves and the best technique for presenting it to a judge.

“They’re kind of showing the best qualities of that animal off to that judge,” explained Carol Kirkpatrick, president of 4-H committee and a co-advisor of New Editions 4-H club.

Tami Vaughn had multiple skills she was looking for while judging showmanship in the light horse category.

“Overall presentation of the animal — How are they controlling it? Are they on the correct side of the horse?” she said. “When we inspect them, they’re supposed to change sides. Some of them did, some of them didn’t. Did they try to square the horse up? Did they try to get it to walk and trot when they were requested to do that?”

But it’s not just the animal judges are looking at — it’s also the knowledge and initiative of the exhibitor.

“I want to see the effort in the showman of showmen more than the perfection of the maneuver,” Vaughn said. “Do they make eye contact with me? Things like that are important.”