THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: Vermilion County Fair Board Secretary Paige Brown on Tuesday stands outside a fair food booth and the grandstands at the fairgrounds, located off Route 150 between Danville and Oakwood. (Jennifer Bailey / The News-Gazette)
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OAKWOOD — Fair season is back, and The News-Gazette posed five questions to Vermilion County Fair Board Secretary Paige Brown to learn about her longtime involvement and this year’s fair, which starts today at the rural Oakwood fairgrounds and runs through Sunday.
How did you first get involved with the fair?
Brown said, “it’s been a long time.” She said her family started coming to the fair when her daughter, now 31, was 7 and showed animals.
“I lovingly say my kids grew up out here, and now my grandkids are growing up out here,” she said. Brown has six grandchildren, and four of them will show pigs at the fair this week. She’s an Iroquois County native, but her husband, Toby, grew up in Vermilion County. They live in Rossville and are known for owning Lingley Bros. Sweetcorn. Two of their children also sit on the fair board with Paige. “It’s a family affair, absolutely,” Paige said
She said it’s important for her to be involved with the fair because, “I think county fairs are important. I think county fairs are the way that people may get a little taste of agriculture that they don’t necessarily get every day or they don’t think about. They don’t think about where my food comes from or that, you know, my clothes are agriculture. They don’t think about stuff like that. So, I think it’s important that we keep agriculture in the forefront, and it’s a good time. County fairs are a good time.”
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