THAT’S NOT CHICKEN FEED … Williams County dairy Association President John Radabaugh, at right, presents a check for $1,000 to Angie Friedel, Colten Friedel and Janis Montgomery for the construction of a poultry barn at the Williams County Fair. (PHOTO BY TIMOTHY KAYS, STAFF)
By: Timothy Kays
The Williams County Dairy Association held their annual banquet at the Veterans Memorial Building on the evening of February 10. Attendees dined on a roast beef and ham dinner, served family style by Auntie V’s Catering, after which Association President, John Radabaugh, spoke about the activities of the organization over the past year. The biggest and most anticipated project of the year is always the Milkshake Stand at the Williams County Fair.
The Williams County Dairy Association Milkshake Stand is the major moneymaking project of the Dairy Association, and through the efforts of approximately 270 dedicated volunteers, including area Vo-Ag/FFA Chapters and church groups, the Rotary Club: and the Philanthropic Education Organization, the proceeds from the stand were used in the community, to support a variety of organizations and projects.
At the 2019 Williams County Fair, the stand served approximately 13,100 milkshakes. To create those milkshakes, 2,109 gallons of ice cream (703 three-gallon tubs) were used, along with 202 gallons of homogenized milk, and 500 gallons of chocolate milk.
Amongst their many donations and contributions, the Association has always stood strongly for the Williams County Fair and for the youth of the area. This year, the Association presented a check for $1,000 to the Williams County Fair Poultry Barn Construction Project.
Accepting the check on behalf of the project were Janis Montgomery, Angie Friedel and Colten Friedel. In accepting the check, Ms. Montgomery gave an update on the project, saying, “I was dumb enough to open my mouth and say we needed a building for just poultry. It’s been a big struggle. As many of you people know, it’s really difficult getting people to try to help you with this kind of stuff. This is our core group… and Jeff Dick.”
“We’re the only ones that have seen this through the whole way, and we’re still working on it. We’re very grateful for the Fair Board and the Williams County Fair Foundation. Without them, we would not be able to do this. The Fair Foundation has taken us under their wings so we didn’t have to do a 501c3 thing.”
“They are handling all the money for us until we can get on our feet and get this built. Right now, we have approximately 80 to 85% of the cash needed to get the structure up. The Fair Board has taken down the draft horse building, so that no longer exists out there. We’re going to have a poultry barn for poultry only by the fair, and we WILL have it.”
“We will have it in there. We’ve got the contractor ready to go. We’re waiting on the state. We’re waiting on the state…do I need to say anymore? We’re very grateful for everyone who has helped. We’ve had so many wonderful people helping us with this. I can’t begin to thank you enough, because we’re not clear there yet.”
“We have to make it so it’s biosecure, so that we can wash it down and keep the biosecurity in there. We still need money for that, and if anybody knows where there’s nice foldable bleachers that we can get, I’ll just put the plea out there now. We want bleachers so that the parents and the families can actually sit and watch their kids show their bird.”
The entertainment for the evening was provided by Earl Musick of Bucyrus, Ohio. It isn’t every day that you can call a member of the FBI ‘entertaining’, but it isn’t every day you run into a multi-faceted talent like Earl Musick.
Earl is a professional cartoonist, humorous illustrator, comedian, spokesperson, ghost writer, and a former artist and photographer for the FBI. Earl has entertained audiences of all ages from preschools to retirement homes. Earl has shared his humor and motivational skills with organizations, conventions, corporations, associations, churches, and schools.
He has performed comedy at corporate events, in clubs, casinos, churches, schools, hotels, theaters, fair grounds, and more. Earl’s cartoon work has appeared on the web, in movies, on television, in newspapers and magazines, in books, greeting cards, calendars, t-shirts, posters, coloring books, in advertising, and much more. He has also worked as a ghost writer for comedians, syndicated comic strips and panels.
Earl has made countless television and radio appearances, has been featured in many newspaper and magazine articles, and has been seen on Good Morning America, and ABC News. Earl has appeared on many TV network affiliates like ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. Earl was featured on a PBS special about careers in cartooning, and a PBS special about clean comedians.
As a freelance cartoonist, Earl’s clients include ABC TV, The Walt Disney Company, the US Postal Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, King Features Syndicate, PBS, the Christian Broadcasting Network, Chicken Soup for the Soul books and many more.
Drawing upon his drawing skills and a lot of audience participation, Musick, a professed Christian, had the guests laughing and wondering what he was going to do next. His use of audio and visual media was exceptional, and he proved without a doubt that you can still entertain an audience without the utterance of a single profanity.
Before leaving the stage, Musick held up his pen and asked if anyone in the audience wanted to come up and draw the cartoon character, Spongebob Squarepants. The hands that went up were few, but they were all from exuberant kids, which played right into an inspirational message that Musick wanted to deliver.
Noting the kids wanting to come forward, Musick addressed the adults in the audience, saying, “You know why that is? I’ll go to preschools and kindergartens, and every hand will go up. I’ll do a room like this, no hands will go up, unless they’re kids.”
“It’s because no one’s told them they can’t yet. We’ve listened to people tell us for years that we can’t, or they’ll laugh at us because we’re trying to draw someone. ‘Oh…I can just draw a stick figure.’ So? Charlie Brown is a smiley face. But nobody told him he couldn’t keep going. Now everybody knows that smiley face.”
“If God gave you a dream, don’t let people tell you that you can’t. Don’t let them stop you. Look what stopped you now. I love that fire in their eyes when they raised their hands. That’s what we need…to be like kids again!”
Timothy can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com