By mvhannigan
I chatted for a few minutes this morning with Henderson County Livestock Show President Danny Davis, and we ended up talking about what makes the HCLS special.
He said it is the people.
“People ask me why I keep on doing this and it is because of the people involved,” he said. “This is the best group of people to work with of any that I’ve worked with, so it works well.”
Now I’m just an observer and not in the trenches with these folks, but I agree with Davis. The amount of work it takes to put on an event like this is monumental.
There were more than 220 hogs in the Market Swine Show Thursday night, and I watched while the rabbit judge worked through more than 70 entries in only one class at the Breeding Rabbit Show.
I spent 12 hours out at the Fairpark Complex Thursday just watching and still didn’t see everything that was going on.
What I did see was family. Everywhere family.
“There are so many of the kids who are showing whose parents showed here, whose grandparents are involved,” Davis said.
That family theme resonates throughout the fairgrounds, something nearly everyone in the HCLS was reminded of when Belle Mills ended up in ICU last week after getting kicked in the head by a horse.
Belle — who competed in the HCLS Princess competition and won the Horsemanship Award — went home this week with her family.
“The whole Belle Mills thing really impressed on me how its family, I’ve never seen a community respond like this one did to that,” said Davis. “Of course with how positive things are going for her right now, it is unbelievable.”