By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Hunter Robbins (left), 4, of Columbus, and Cali Bandy, 3, of Centerburg, enjoy the Frog Hopper ride at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus Friday. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

COLUMBUS - If you find a person who can't find something fun at the 150th Ohio State Fair here, check his pulse.

Stomach-churning rides, midway delicacies like batter-fried Twinkies, pork kebabs and ice-cold lemonade squeezed before your eyes. Strolling magicians, barns full of swine bigger than small automobiles, statues of the Wright Brothers done in butter.

Elephant ears. Roasted sweet corn. Guys in ball caps howling from booths, pleading with you to part with a dollar bill and toss a ring or shoot a popgun for a chance to take home your very own inflatable SpongeBob SquarePants doll. A fresh-faced teen chorus singing about the state that is "Round at the ends, high in the middle." The governor wearing a cattleman's hat.

Even square, old, nose-to-the-grindstone Ohio, mother of presidents and father of industry, has to let its hair down once a year for this.

"I wait for this every summer," said 27-year-old Emily Snyder of Columbus, who pushed a baby carriage through the 11th Avenue gate to become one of the first of what will likely be close to a million visitors to the 17-day fair.

"This is just the best."

IF YOU GO

What: 150th Ohio State Fair. When: Through Aug. 17. Where: Ohio Expo Center, 17th Avenue, off Interstate 71, Columbus. Costs: $8 adults (ages 13-59); $7 youth (ages 5-12); $7 senior (ages 60+); free for children under 5. Gate hours: 9 a.m.-10 p.m.; on Aug. 17 gates close at 8 p.m. Go online: Schedules and other fair information at Cincinnati.com Keyword: Fairs

The state fair, which began in 1850 in Cincinnati's Camp Washington on a tiny plot near the Miami-Erie Canal, is the one place where, each year, Ohio's diverse cultures of inner-city youth, suburban families and young farm kids come together.

That first fair in Cincinnati, said Columbus resident LaVon Shook, the fair's official historian, was held to help educate farmers on modern farming techniques.

"Now here we are in the 21st century and it has come full circle," said Shook, standing near a model of the original Cincinnati fairgrounds at the "History in the Making" tent.

"Now one big reason we have the fair is to expose city people to farm life, so they can get a look at where their food comes from."

It comes, in part, from the nearly 5,000 young farmers who enter their livestock each year in the junior fair competition, working hard throughout the year to groom the perfect steer, lamb, hog or horse that they hope will be sold at the Sale of Champions auction later this month for large sums of money - money that will send many to college and off the family farm.

Shortly after dawn Friday, the first day of the fair, heavy fog shrouded the fairgrounds that sit in the middle of the state's largest city. The only activity, aside from the carnies and concessionaires getting their booths ready, was in the livestock buildings where young people prepared their animals for the day's shows.

In the Voinovich Building, 18-year-old Hillary Myers of Owensville began grooming her 1,300-pound market steer, Famous Amos, for the midmorning showmanship competition.

Hillary finished third in her class and immediately began preparing for the next round of the competition today.

Her father, Lee Myers, said the buzz among the cattle people was that the judges are likely to pick a grand champion about 52 inches tall - exactly Famous Amos' height.

"We're right on the money; we've got the right weight," Myers said. "You don't want to be cocky, but we look pretty good."

North of the Voinovich Building, in the Rhodes Center, 4-H volunteer Carol Kennedy of Milford and county 4-H agent Jodi Black and led a group of seven young 4-H members from Clermont County through the arts and crafts competition.

Kennedy's daughter, 13-year-old Tiffany DeJager-Kennedy, won a first-place ribbon for her photograph of an ancient church her family visited in Germany.

"People think 4-H and they think you have to live on a farm and have livestock," Black said, as four of the Clermont County girls prepared to perform a skit on household health and safety at the Youth Discovery Center.

"But kids can learn just about any skill in 4-H," Black said. "And the state fair is the place where they can show their talent."

For the 4-H kids and the young farmers displaying livestock, the fair is a period of hard work interspersed with short bursts of fun on the midway.

But for the city kids, fun is what the state fair is all about.

Over at the "Gallery of Stains," a booth sponsored by All laundry detergent, 6-year-old Jack Engert and his 9-year-old sister, Emily, went wild shooting squeeze bottles of ketchup, mustard and barbecue sauce at a white sheet hung on the wall.

"I made a big mess," Emily said. "That was fun."

E-mail hwilkinson@enquirer.com