BY SHERI McWHIRTER
smcwhirter@record-eagle.com
TRAVERSE CITY — Joe Monroe pushed and struggled with a 200-plus-pound pile of pork, trying to get the animal off its rump and turned toward the show ring.
Monroe, of South Boardman, is a volunteer in his eighth year at the Northwestern Michigan Fair in Traverse City. He has a child involved in the local 4-H program, but said he volunteers for all the children who raise livestock and come to the fair.
It's also somewhat amusing to work with swine, considered among the smartest barnyard animals around, Monroe said.
"I move pigs. Get them out to the show and back to their pen when it's done," he said. "There's 190 pigs and 190 personalities."
Monroe is among a brigade of volunteers who are crucial to fair operations. It takes dozens to bring it all together, said Darrel Robinson, president of the Northwest Michigan 4-H Livestock Council.
Al and Lynn Henning, of Traverse City, volunteered to run the poultry barn for the last 13 years.
The work starts weeks before the fair begins, they said.
"We painted, got the cages and pens ready, and did clinics with the kids," Lynn Henning said.
"It's a willingness to want to help kids and the patience to help kids," Al Henning said.
Their children grew up in 4-H and raised chickens, rabbits, goats, swine and dairy cows. Now it's their grandchildren's turn.
"And we haven't grown up yet. We're still 4-H'ers at heart," Lynn Henning said.
For volunteers Rudy and Jason Neumann, a father and son duo from Traverse City, it's about keeping up the family's agricultural traditions. They have four generations with 4-H experience, all found each year at the fair, Randy Neumann said.
"A lot of it is presenting the farm community," Jason Neumann said. "This allows the general population to come out and see what this is about, see things they wouldn't in their subdivisions and apartments."
The father and son serve as a "jack-of-all-trades" at the fair, from running to repair a broken barn door to making roof fixes while hanging from barn rafters.
A key component is learning and helping children with their animals, said Pam Leach, a 27-year volunteer from Williamsburg and the fair's superintendent of horses.
"There's a lot of education that goes on out here. They need a little advice along the way," she said.
The fair continues through Saturday along Blair Townhall Road, south of Chum's Corners. Visit www.northwesternmichiganfair.net for more information.
