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In 2004 the Wayne Soil and Water Conservation District opened it's new building for the Wayne County Fair. Sharing the building from 2004 until 2023 was Wayne County Recycling, which changed to the Stark-Tusc-Wayne Recycling District. The old Wayne SWCD fair "barn" was donated to the Fair Board and is currently used by the Equine 4-H program to store horse arena equipment. PDF:Click here to see pictures of old to new!
The Wayne County Fair is held every year, opening the first Saturday after Labor Day in September. Each year we display local conservation practices that have been completed, student poster contest winner's, urban conservation plans, and educational information for the public at the fair. In addition, since 2003 we have had a fun guessing contest each year and award a gift certificate to the winner!
BELOW are the past Guessing Contest Questions, Answers and Winners:
BELOW are the past Guessing Contest Questions, Answers and Winners:
We hope you can learn more about Ohio’s history of wildlife and the importance of conservation and parks by reading about the Shawnee State Park. More information about Shawnee State Park and the History of the game preserve and Ohio’s wildlife can be found at https://sciotohistorical.org/items/show/4 or in this article https://www.thesaltmagazine.com/featuredstories/9421/preserving-the-great-outdoors-thank-you-tr
2024 - Celebrating 175th Wayne County Fair! As we continued our customary SWCD guessing game at our building, it seemed to quack everyone up as they admired the little rubber duckies in the jar and tried their best to guess how many were in there. But what got everyone fowled up was the tie- breaker question! The tie breaker question was: What Ohio State Park, helped restock whitetail deer and turkey to Ohio after they were extirpated (disappeared) from Ohio by 1909? We had a record-BEAKing year of guesses, with over 900 guesses submitted! Of those, 27 people correctly guessed the correct number of 53 ducks in the jar! As for the tie-breaker, that made most people’s head swim. But there was one. One person had the right number of ducks and the right park! We congratulate Dean Ramseyer of Orrville for knowing that Shawnee State Park, otherwise known as the Teddy Roosevelt Game Preserve was the Ohio State Park that helped restock deer and turkey in Ohio. Dean won the $30 Bob Evans gift card and we would like to thank all of the people that stopped in and took the time to guess! Our contest was feathered into our theme of parks – with the rare black bellied whistling ducks making headlines visiting our local parks and nature areas, we value the importance of the outdoors with education. Thanks to everyone that stopped in and guessed and visited with us, and enjoyed all of our displays - inside and outside. Hope to see you in 2025!
And the Winner is...
And the Winner is...
With well over 650 guesses, we had 4 people correctly guess the right number of pine cones in our jar…107! But only 2 of them correctly got the tie-breaker question right! So, we would like to congratulate Al Markowski of North Royalton and Taylor Olszeski of Burbank, both won a $30 gift card to Bob Evans Restaurant! The tie-breaker question was: What US States have the most Trees per square mile? Name two of the top five states: (the answers are: ALASKA, TEXAS, MONTANA, GEORGIA, AND COLORADO…https://8billiontrees.com/trees/what-state-has-the-most-trees/) We would also like to give a shout out to Kellie Brock and Curtis Burgan for honorable guessing. Thanks to everyone that stopped by to visit us and took a guess!
NEW! and Improved!
NEW! and Improved!
Permeable Pavers! Installed in August 2023... check out the handouts below for more details and stop by our building anytime to view this wonderful new walkway.
Pollinator Habitat Area
Pollinator Habitat Area
Our very own Kathy Burley has taken our back yard area to a whole other level! Butterflies, bumblebees and lots of insects adore her work, as we admire the beauty of it too! Thanks Kathy!
The Greeters! The Ramsier Boys help out!
The Greeters! The Ramsier Boys help out!
2022 Contest: Going Back in TIME, with our Celebration of History, is our guessing contest of Lincoln Logs. Winning guess of 275 was won by Charles Klenovich of Dayton, Ohio. He won it by way of the tie- breaker... Charles says he loves to come back to Wayne County were he grew up and visit the wonderful fair! Thanks for visiting!
A welcome path to our Fair Building!
A welcome path to our Fair Building!
FYI... if you missed us, please plan on visiting us next time. We are located across from the Chicken Dinner - by The Covered Bridge.
FYI... if you missed us, please plan on visiting us next time. We are located across from the Chicken Dinner - by The Covered Bridge.
Building #51 on the Fairgrounds Map.
Building #51 on the Fairgrounds Map.
Celebrating 75 years ~ New banners!
John Knapp (D.C. with NRCS) works a shift at the 2022 Wayne County Fair! The guessing contest was a hit...and it came down again to the tie- breaker question! The Killbuck Creek watershed is the largest in Wayne County. What YEAR did the US Board on Geographic Name settle on "Killbuck Creek" as the stream's official name? Answer: 1963
Kelly Riley and Kathy Burley greet fair attendees as they visit the Wayne SWCD and STW Joint Solid Waste Recycling Barn during the 2021 Wayne County Fair.
2021 Contest: Hitting a triple out of the park! That is what Cheryl Gordon of Shreve, Rock Villard of Navarre and Nicole Dingery of Clinton did when all three of them correctly guessed that there were 103 BUCKEYES in the container at our traditional guessing contest at the fair. For the first time in our history of doing the contests, we had a 3 way tie and all three (Cheryl, Rock and Nicole) even got the TIE- BREAKER question as well! And it was needed! The tie-breaker was: What are the two (2) most popular types of trees (wood) used to make the Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat? They correctly guessed Ash and Maple, which are correct! There were 4 other individuals who also guessed 103 correctly, but either did NOT guess the tie- breaker question, or were wrong. They were Jack Peterson, Cara Mckay, Colleen Edwards and Jasmine. Cheryl, Rock and Nicole each won a $30 gift card to Bob Evans Restaurant. We thank everyone for stopping by and visiting us and participating in the contest. For more info please visit https://www.sluggermuseum.com/about-us/faqs We hope to see everyone again next year!
Special NOTE : Due to the Pandemic and Coronavirus... we did NOT have a guessing contest in 2020.
2019 Contest: What the Hay? That was the name of our 2019 Educational theme and the name of the guessing contest at our fair barn this year. And it was a RECORD BREAKER! We had over 920 guesses…the most ever since we started this tradition of a guessing contest back in 2003. Ironically, in 2003 we started the guessing contest with the same thing – the weight of a bale of hay. We would like to congratulate Jerry Frisch of North Fairfield, in Huron County on his winning guess of 709… he was the closest to the actual weight of 713 pounds! Jerry actually won based on the tie-breaker question, he was closer to the actual date the hay was baled – which was July 13th, 2019. There was one other person that guessed within 4 pounds…so the tie-breaker question did make a difference! Jerry won the $30 gift card to Bob Evans Restaurant. When we talked to Jerry we were happy to hear that Jerry and his wife had never been to the Wayne County Fair, until this year – and they had a wonderful time…and said they would definitely be back next year! We might be biased, but we think it’s one of the best fairs too! Wayne SWCD would like to thank everyone that stopped by our barn and guessed and visited, and thank our supporters!
It was a stressful year in 2019 for anyone making hay, so we wanted to highlight the process and details of making hay...and the different types of hay that can be made. Prices were at a premium as well. Wayne county is a leading county for making hay, and the variety of animals that use and need hay was also portrayed in our display. To learn more about hay and our equine friends...you can visit this page.
2018 Contest: How were we to know that our theme about fish and watersheds would take such a serious role at the 2018 Wayne County Fair? The lure of the guessing contest to win a $30 gift card to Bob Evans restaurant might have been dampened by the low crowd numbers, but that didn’t stop Kole Gish from winning! Kole was the closest one to guess that 322 Swedish Fish were in our container. Kole guessed 320…and even though the tie breaker wasn’t needed….the question many people had a fun time answering was: “Which (US) State harvests the most fish?" That answer is ALASKA. In fact, Alaska has topped the nation in total fishing volume for the past 20 years! We thank everyone for stopping by and visiting our building during the fair!
2016 Contest: Bit O' Honey! Many guessers wanted to simply sample and eat the candy—Bit O’Honey! But unfortunately it was sealed! Luckily for one person, Amber Morris of Shreve, the number of pieces of candy she guessed was right on, and she also answered the tie-breaker question to win the $30 gift card to Bob Evans Restaurant. She guessed correctly 135 pieces and she knew that besides the Queen Bee, the other 2 social orders of honey bees were the Workers and Drones! With over 510 guesses during the fair, we hoped everyone had a fun time visiting us and learned about the importance of pollinators and how we can help them!
2017 Contest: It was all about the marbles! Of course many people might have lost a few marbles trying to guess the number of marbles in the container, but for one lucky person…they got it right on the money! Haylee Keeler of Rittman, guessed the exact amount and she also answered the tie-breaker question to win the $30 gift card to Bob Evans Restaurant. She guessed correctly 517 marbles and she knew that 95% of the U.S. fresh water supply comes from the Great Lakes! With over 450 guesses during the fair, we hoped everyone had a fun time visiting us and learned about the importance of healthy fresh water & watersheds and how we can keep our waters clean.
2015 Contest: Congratulations go to Cathy Broome of Jeromesville, as she was the only person to correctly guess the correct number of (foam) butterflies in our guessing contest at our building during the Wayne County Fair. She was spot on guessing 293 butterflies, winning $30 to Bob Evans Restaurant! The tie breaker question, (which wasn’t needed) was: What year did scientists discover the location of the Monarch butterflies winter haven in Mexico– FYI– the location is in the forest of the Sierra Madre Mountains? That answer is 1975—yes, this is the 40 year anniversary! The guessing contest, which has been a tradition now for about 12 years was about butterflies and tied into our education about Monarch butterflies, migrations, pollinators and the importance of milkweed.
FMI about buying milkweed, visit www.plantmilkweed.org
2014 Contest ~ BULLS~EYE!
Since 2003, the Wayne SWCD has enticed visitors to their building with a friendly guessing contest. Each year the contest correlates to the educational theme, and this year was no different. “Target Runoff” aimed to educate the public about conservation practices and managing runoff. The contest was to guess how many candy bulls-eyes were in the jar…and of course there was also a tie breaking question. With over 550 guesses this year, there was ONE person that hit the bulls-eye…it was LUCKY JOE. He correctly guessed the right number of 71 candy bulls-eyes in the jar. He won the $30 gift card to Bob Evans Restaurant. There were 14 other contenders that were oh so close…within one, but not right on the money, so Joe won without having to use the tie-breaker. The tie-breaking question was, “Wayne County Ranks #1 in the state with # of Milk Cows. In the US, how many major breeds of dairy cattle are there?” That answer is SIX: Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Holstein, Jersey and Milking Shorthorn.
2013 Wayne County Fair Guessing Contest.
This year was to guess how many pounds of ag plastic film was in the large white “Super Sack” in front of the building. The plastic was recycled from a local producer’s farm. This was an example of white bale wrap that can be recycled through the newly launched Ag Plastic Recycling Program that currently involves 9 Ohio counties. Winning the $30 gift card to Bob Evans Restaurant this year was Erich Ross of Wadsworth, Ohio. Erich had the closest guess to the correct number of pounds of the ag plastic, which was 323 pounds. He guessed 324 – just 1 over the real amount. The guessing contest always has a tie-breaker question…just in case we have to use it to determine the actual winner. The tie-breaker question was: “When you recycle 2,000lbs of paper, about how many trees do you save?” The correct answer was 17 trees. We had over 550 guesses this year. We were also blessed to be presented with the WCF best outdoor Exhibit that year!
2012 - Congratulations to LOREN RUFENER of Rittman, Ohio. Loren had the closest guess to the correct number of corn kernels, which were 2,281 kernels. He guessed 2,291 – just 10 shy of the real amount. We had over 600 guesses this year, and appreciate everyone that tried the contest and stopped by to visit. The guessing contest always has a tie-breaker question…just in case we have to use it to determine the actual winner. The tiebreaker question was: “Wayne County leads the State in ranking for total number of cows. What ranking does Wayne County have for 2011 Corn Production?” The correct answer is Wayne County was ranked 36th in corn production in 2011. Winning the $30 gift card to Bob Evans Restaurant from the 2012 contest was Loren.
2011 Guess: How many small plastic milk bottles are shredded in the jar? Answer: 119
Winner: Tamara Warren of Wooster.
Tie breaker Question (not needed) How many recycling containers are at the Wayne County Fair? (hint: green barrels & large black bottles) Answer: 40 containers in 2011
2010 Guess: Number of Acorns in the jar? Answer: 204 Winner: Sue Hoffman of Creston
Tie Breaker: Name a state that has the White Oak Tree as its official state tree. (hint: there are 3)
Answer: Connecticut, Illinois & Maryland.
2009 Guess: Number of gummy worms in the jar? Answer: 183
Winner: Ruby Pennington of Norton
Tie Breaker: How long is the longest earthworm ever recorded? (According to Guinness book of records)
Answer: 22 ft. long, found in 1967 in Williamstown, Africa
2008 Guess: Number of Buckeyes in the jar? Answer: 589
Winner: Linda Corp of Seville
Tie Breaker: What year did Ohio make the Ohio Buckeye Tree the official state tree?
Answer: 1953
2007 Contest: Number of Frogs (toy) in a jar... For Riparian Zones!
2006 Contest: Number of recycled cans in the block.... with Ashley DeFrancisco and Kelly (Smith) Riley
2005 Contest - go Fish! Literally.... we helped a 4-H'er with her a aqua-culture and fish project...and held her huge tank full of FISH in our building - so guess the # of fish in the tank! Water quality was a very important topic...and why not?
2004 Contest - Corn - Guess the number of kernels of corn - in our jar!
2003 Contest - Hay - Guess the weight of the large round bale of Hay! Thanks Jon Berger for donating/bringing in the hay!
Stop by and visit us during the wonderful Wayne County Fair!
Stop by and visit us during the wonderful Wayne County Fair!
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