A Blessed Weekend at the Bennett County Fair and Rodeo
- Anthony Kathol
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the Bennett County Fair and Rodeo on August 7–8, 2026. It was a beautiful weekend to attend the fair and spend time with friends and members of our community.
I started out Friday morning by attending the Martin VFD pancake and sausage feed. By the way, our local fire chief does an excellent job flipping those pancakes. I was at the fire hall for a good two hours, meeting many familiar faces and passing out information about my campaign.
Afterward, I headed to the fairgrounds to check out the 4-H exhibits, arts and crafts displays. I then proceeded to the arena, where the 4-H junior and senior members, wearing their green T-shirts, participated in bucket calf judging, swine judging, swine showmanship, goat judging, sheep judging, sheep showmanship, and feeder calf judging.
Before leaving the fairgrounds, I attended the Pie and Ice Cream Social, where I grabbed myself a slice of cherry pie à la mode to support our local BC Cheerleaders.
After the Ice Cream Social, I walked to the Catholic Church to attend daily Mass. After Mass, our new pastor from Uganda, Fr. Francis Nsubuga, and I returned to the fairgrounds for the market beef judging competition. Fr. Francis was impressed by the size of the steers and heifers and by how well the 4-H members handled the 1,200- to 1,500-pound steers within the gated arena. Toward the end of the competition, the judge worked with the junior and senior 4-H members and gave them some extra tips on showmanship. Fr. Francis and I watched on as they demonstrated their hard work and dedication.
After a long afternoon, Fr. Francis and I were tired and decided to call it a day at the fair.
On Saturday morning, I attended the Hometown Celebration on Main Street. I first stopped at the local farmers market, where there were some freshly baked goods for sale. I ended up picking up a loaf of jalapeño and cheese sourdough bread from one of our local vendors. I also got to meet some more locals at the farmers market, which is always nice to see grandparents with their grandchildren.
I then made a beeline to get some beef tacos from one of the food vendors because I was hungry for Mexican food. The beef tacos were so good! Kudos to the chef in the kitchen who made them.
I then worked my way east along Main Street and saw the Old Time Car Show. I took a few photos of the classic antique automobiles from days gone by. At the end of Main Street, the kids were playing all sorts of games and enjoying the water sprayed by the fire trucks.
After checking out the Hometown Celebration, I attended the 5th Annual Cowboy Classic Performance and Production Horse Sale. There were some beautiful horses for sale, and a large crowd was in attendance for the auction. A horse named Big Foxy Lady sold for $18,000, while a small four-year-old pony gelding brought $3,600.
I had to leave early before the remaining horses were sold, but it appeared the Waln and Byrne Families were going to have another successful horse auction. It was a thrill to watch the buying and selling. Of course, the humor and personality of the auctioneer added to the excitement for those sitting on the fence, deciding whether or not to buy.
After the horse auction, I drove my Explorer to the parade route and got it set up for the 3:00 p.m. start time. A friend of mine, Irene Saunders, joined me one last time before moving to Illinois. She volunteered to drive the Explorer while I walked the parade route and passed out campaign literature.
Main Street was lined with kids picking up candy, and there sure was a lot of it to be picked up! It was nice to meet so many friendly faces along the parade route.
Afterward, I dropped Irene off at her home and took a nap to recharge before heading to the fairgrounds one last time for the free community barbecue sponsored by the Martin Chamber of Commerce. The pork and beef sandwiches were a delight, especially topped with barbecue sauce. I grabbed myself a slice of seedless watermelon and sat down and enjoyed the company of my neighbors in attendance.
The night was still young, so I lingered around, talked with more locals, and received a free ticket to attend the rodeo. I was getting tired and had to get up early to sing at church the next morning, so I eventually left the rodeo after watching the bareback horse riding, ranch bronc riding, steer wrestling, goat tying, calf roping, and mixed team roping.
After getting home, I refreshed myself and decided to head back out to watch the pig mud wrestling at the Martin Fire Hall. There were certainly a lot of people entertained by the event! Some teams did better than others at getting the pig into the barrel. It looked like a lot of fun and a great way to bring the community together for some clean fun and excitement.
It looked like the event might get rained out, as there was lightning toward the north, but, as usual, the storm ended up going around us. After visiting with more locals while Country Rush played in the background inside the fire hall, I decided to call it a night.
I thanked God for a blessed and enjoyable weekend.
Check out the YouTube video I made of the weekend below!
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