By Jackson Schneider
MANHATTAN, Kan. — The Riley County Fair continued Friday night, with the 4-H Swine Show leading the charge.
Lead Judge Brian Zimmerman has judged at shows all over the country for more than 20 years, and noted the fantastic support from parents and fair attendees.
"It's awesome," said Zimmerman. "It's absolutely incredible because we're all here to support the kids."
The event brings 4-Hers from all over the county to showcase the pigs, or "projects," that they have been working on all year, and the kids hard work certainly teaches them how to deal with a variety of challenges thrown at them not only by the pig, but also life.
"The best thing you can do is get up and do chores every morning," said Zimmerman. "Get out of bed and the best thing you can do is be consistent."
Zimmerman also went into detail about the important things he looks for when judging, highlighting a multitude of different characteristics.
"The main thing I always look for is, I like to say 'you can buy muscle in a bag,' so we want to make sure the structure is right on these pigs. They've got to have some bone underneath them, they've got to be sound, they've got to be square made, and then travel right," he said. " If we can do all that and tweak a few other things, and make them taller and longer necked, those are just perks if we can get there.
The Riley County Fair will continue Saturday and through the remainder of the weekend with the Auction on Monday night. For a full list of events and the Fair Schedule, visit RileyCountyFair.com