Emily Pappas, 11, shows her collie Sophie Wednesday at the?Morrow County Fair. Judges deemed Sophie the Prettiest Pet.<BR><I>Staff photo by Erin Mills</I>

Some kids, like 11-year-old Emily Pappas, take full advantage of the Morrow County Fair. Pappas won several ribbons this year with her arts, and her collie, Sophie – with flowing white hair and Lassie-like demeanor – was a shoo-in for Prettiest Pet. Most of Pappas’ entries were drawings in pencil of cats, a penguin, and Sophie herself. Drawing, she explained, has always come naturally.

“You just start drawing, and it comes to something,” she said.

Pappas also entered a poem titled “To My Dog, Sophie,” and a scrapbood of her year in the Girl Scouts. She will also play saxophone in the fair talent show. On Wednesday, Pappas roamed the fairgrounds with her friend, Ella McCormack,12. McCormack proudly pointed out a row of preserves – pear butter, maple jelly, strawberry jam and pickles.

“I did everything, except my mom helped me take the jars out of the water. She didn’t want me to get burned,” McCormack said.

McCormack also won a red ribbon for a photograph of her brother, Chance, graduating from preschool.

There is something for everyone at the fair this year – seed spitting contests, a tractor pull, a chili cook-off, a greased pig contest, wine and beer tasting and a dance. At the Sweet Productions food booth, owner Jodi Chapa is offering elephant ears for the first time – baby ears that are fried in canola oil so as to be less greasy, she said.

“We make ’em nice and thick so they’re crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside,” she said

In the animal barns, Future Farmers of America members earnestly looked over the likestock and Stacee Halvorsen, 14, rubbed down her two enormous pigs, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. They dozed in the heat and seemed content, unlike a nearby pig who loudly protested the disappearance of a companion.

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell were sparkling clean, the result of hours of Halvorsen’s effort, she said.

“You have to scrub them really hard because they have three months of mud caked on their skin,” she said.

Halvorsen moved around the pigs’ pen, scratching their bellies and chatting with them. Despite the fact they both weigh about 250 pounds, Halvorsen said she never feels ntimidated

“As they get older, they get more lazy and just kind of lay there,” she said.