Another great week of the Delaware County Fair! It is always one of the most awesome and exhausting weeks of the year. This year it was no different.

Our fair week started on Saturday afternoon. We started off by walking through the animal barns on our way to the midway. Our daughter enjoyed looking at and petting the animals as we walked through the barns.

I was a little worried our daughter may not enjoy the rides as much this year. Man was I wrong. She loved the rides. She loved the big Fun Slide, the Ferris wheel, the pirate ship, the crocodile roller coaster, and the Musik Express that takes you very fast in circles, forwards and then backwards. But her favorite ride this year was the Zumur. It is the ride you sit in a swing, and it spins you around in circles. She rode it eight times in a row one day.

Of course, one of the best things about the fair is the fair food. And, we had a lot of fair food. My favorite, as always, is a cheeseburger from the Buckeye Valley Booth and fair fries. But, we also enjoyed funnel cakes, pepperoni stick, chicken, Dippin Dots and fried Oreos, just to name a few. Surprisingly, I was not a big fan of the fried Oreos, however our daughter really liked them.

I am thankful to have been able to participate a little with the Junior Fair. For the first time, I was involved with the King and Queen Contest. I was one of three judges for the impromptu speeches. All of the young men and women did a fantastic job.

Sheriff Balzer and I went together to purchase a junior fair project at Tuesday night’s auction. Thank you sheriff for doing the bidding at the auction while I ran around the midway having fun with my family.

While I love the fair food and the fun we have at the fair, to me, the fair is all about the Junior Fair. The Junior Fair was such a large part of my life growing up. Each year we would take care of our animals all summer long and then take them to the fair. At the fair, we would show our animals and then sell them. After the fair, we would write thank you notes and work on our project books, running the numbers to see if we made a profit or had a loss.

Those Junior Fair projects had a large impact on my life. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to raise animals and learn the responsibility of taking care of animals that depend on you every day for their food, water and well-being.

I dreaded working on the project books after the fair because it was so boring. However, going over the budget and looking at income and expenses was the beginning of my interest in budgets and finance, which has served me well the last 35 years.

After we left the fair Tuesday night, we were talking about the fair. Our daughter said she “cannot wait to take an animal to the fair.” We asked her what she wanted to take. And, she said a turkey.

I hope that she continues to want to take an animal to the fair. And I hope that she will learn as much as I did from taking animals to the Delaware County Junior Fair.

Randall D. Fuller is judge of the Domestic Relations Division of the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas. Judge Fuller is a lifelong resident of Delaware County.