Throughout the week of September 28-October 2, FFA members left in groups to attend their respective shows at the Texas State Fair. This state fair was broken up into different shows and even locations, with some virtual, some in Waco as part of the ‘Heart O’ Texas Fair and Rodeo,’ and many in Fair Park. 

“Competing in the state fair especially right now is amazing,” FFA sponsor Casey Jones said. “A lot of stock shows have been cancelled over the past few months and being able to compete in one this big is a great [way to] show that they still care about our kids and the agriculture industry.”

Not only is this importantl for those who teach and help with these animals and events, but it is for the students as well. The state fair is one of the largest circuit events that these students attend, and for some of them this is especially important because it is their senior year. 

“Being able to go to the state fair gives me a lot of hope,” senior Easton Rushing said. “Last year was cut really short and all of the seniors weren’t allowed to go to a lot of the big end of year shows, but being able to participate in something like the state fair gives me hope that things will be organized enough even during the pandemic.”

Even though the events are largely in person, the speech events are going to be exclusively virtual. The livestock shows have been limited as well, as students are only allowed to enter in market shows. 

“[Despite the schedule changing,] the numbers of entries haven’t slowed down substantially,” Jones said. “There’s still thousands and thousands of animals, just for example, Houston generally has a thousand pigs per wave each year and this year they have two waves.”