ALLEN COUNTY, OH (WLIO) - The Allen County Fair is no stranger to tradition year after year, and regular attendees will know that there are always fun shows and activities to take part in while they spend their time at the fair.
One mainstay of the free entertainment at the Allen County Fair is the Bear Hollow Wood Carvers. Each day of the fair there are several shows that people can attend to watch the wood carver as he creates pieces of art with a lineup of tools, including chainsaws.
"What we do is we carve shows all over the country - right now we’re doing our fair run, so we’ve got a bunch of fairs that we’re carving at, mostly in Ohio right now is where I’m at," said Jason Stoner with Bear Hollow Wood Carvers. "I always enjoy watching people because they don’t get it at first and end up being like 'wow, I can’t believe that just happened.' We just take those logs, and in an hour, we have a sculpture."
The sculptures made at the shows will be auctioned off on Saturday the 27th at the grandstand plaza stage. Proceeds from the auction will go towards Allen County Ag Society scholarships and the Allen County Fair Foundation.
A new addition to the free entertainment this year is the butterfly exhibit. Fairgoers can get up close and personal with several species of butterflies within the enclosure and are even able to feed them with a special homemade nectar. While this activity is a great way to get in touch with nature, it’s also a chance to bring some awareness to a big problem concerning monarch butterflies.
"Unfortunately they just hit the extinction list last month, and they’re one of our main pollinators," said Annette Holt, butterfly exhibit manager. "The monarchs are one of the ones that actually go from the north to the south, so they are pollinating all the way down, whether it’s the west or central or the east, they are our main pollinators."
And of course there are many other free entertainment opportunities to check out at this year's fair. To see all of the different events going on each day, check out their website.
