Fayette County Stock Show Eyes Expansion
The Fayette County Junior Livestock Show (FCJLS) wants to invite exhibitors from Schulenburg and Flatonia to their show next spring.
Schulenburg and Flatonia have held separate livestock shows for many decades. FCJLS Vice President Todd Fritsch said new leadership within the organization wants to open their show to all students in Fayette County. He said the move is aimed at increasing competition and growing the Fayette County show.
“We are extending the olive branch,” Fritsch said. “We’re going to start this. We want to invite (Schuenburg and Flatonia). These shows have gotten smaller. We need to initiate it now so we don’t get to a point where they’re all so small that they all die off.”
FCJLS has not yet finalized the rules for the new county-wide show. They will hold an open community meeting on April 30 at the Fayette County Ag Building in La Grange starting at 6:30 p.m. to gather input from interested parties. Organizers will develop the rules after that meeting. In general, though, Fritsch said organizers intend to open the show to any student attending public school, private school or homeschool in Fayette County, and they must be a member of 4-H or FFA. He anticipated that the rules would require exhibitors to pick which show they will enter.
“If you want to show at Fayette County, you cannot show at Schulenburg or Flatonia,” Fritsch said. “No double dipping, no double selling, no double showing.”
The rules and judge selection committee will be cochaired by Scott Parker and Morgan Dornak. Fritsch said they were chosen because neither have any children or grandchildren who exhibit animals.
Schulenburg Junior Livestock Show President Rodney Kalich said he just learned of the news and didn’t know enough about FCJLS’ plans to take a position. He did raise concerns about whether the Fayette County show would attract Schulenburg buyers and how that would affect both shows.
“We’re waiting for them to finalize their plans,” Kalich said. “There are some positives to it. But one of our concerns is, will the Schulenburg money be going to La Grange? We still have a good show. And the other thing is, if you have that many animals coming over, not all of them are going to sell. We pride ourselves on letting every kid sell.”
FCJLS organizers intend to continue selling every exhibit at auction (except for students who exhibit multiple projects – in that case, they must choose one animal to sell).
“Eventually, if we start growing, we might get to where we have a sift and not every animal sells,” said FCJLS Secretary Regan Fritsch. “But right now, every animal will sell.”
Flatonia Junior Livestock Show President Chris Masek said he also just learned of the news.
“We’re waiting to see what Fayette County Junior Livestock Show is going to do,” Masek said. “Then we can adjust our rules. We haven’t finalized anything yet. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens.”