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Thomas Braughton of West
Alexandra and Johnny Haworth of Lewisburg
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Versailles Poultry Days
Weather’s curve balls
don’t stop another successful festival
Poultry Days wrapped a successful “Take Me Out to the Poultry Days
Festival” on Sunday despite the weather throwing several curve
balls. The familiar question is, “What was the number of dinners
sold?” While the record of 26,101 remains elusive, dinner sales
did increase from 24,780 to 25,200. Storms on Friday afternoon
and late Sunday put a damper on volume but couldn’t hold the festival
back from breaking 2014 numbers. Attendance was so high that
after the World Famous Barbecue Chicken sold out many other vendors
began selling out of food as well. The weekend was a blur of
activity with entertainment, contests, and displays. The switch
to Kissel Brothers Rides and their greatly reduced ride prices was very
successful pulling in large crowds to the midway. The Social Tent
aka The Coop continued to serve canned beer and saw increased
attendance with many taking advantage of the expanded seating near the
tent. First-time visitors and vendors were surprised at the large
numbers in attendance and are eager to return to the Chicken City
celebration next year.
Rhylan Broerman is this year’s Little Miss Poultry Days while Averi
Ahrns of Yorkshire was first runner up and Caleigh Stebbins of
Greenville was the second runner up. Rhylan is the daughter of
Nick & Amber Broerman and lives in Yorkshire. Christa Puthoff
of Versailles (daughter of Steve and Marlene Puthoff) became the 2015
Miss Chick and was sponsored by St. Denis Youth Ministry. Christa
is a 2015 Versailles graduate and a member of the State Champion
Basketball and Volleyball teams as well as active in St. Denis Church,
FFA, student council, 4-H and National Honor Society. She will be
attending The University of Findlay in the fall where she will be
studying nursing and playing basketball. First runner up, Taylor
Stover, daughter of Eric and Julie Stover, was sponsored by Pohl
Trucking and second runner up, Rachel Osterloh, daughter of Luke and
Sharon Osterloh, was sponsored by Versailles FFA. Expect to see more of
Christa, Taylor, Rachel and Rhylan as they represent Poultry Days over
the next year. The Miss Chick Pageant was sponsored by
Second National Bank while The Versailles Savings & Loan sponsored
Little Miss Poultry Days.
Bob and Kathy Frey were the Honorary Parade Marshals of the Grand
Parade which saw increased participation to over 125 units. The
Antique Car & Tractor Display and Parade saw strong participation
despite the chance of storms early Sunday and enjoyed the new location
at Versailles High School. Grand Parade Awards were: Junior Civic
Award- Versailles Busy Beavers, Senior Civic Award - Minster
Oktoberfest, Commercial Award - Midmark, Theme Award - The Winery at
Versailles, Queen’s Award - Brilliant Beginnings, Mayor’s Trophy - YMCA
of Darke County - Gymnastics Team and Chairman’s Choice - Kaup’s
Pharmacy. One of the parade favorites was the Midmark float which
was pulled by a replica of the 1968 El Camino that retired CEO Jim
Eiting used to make early medical sales.
The Michigan based “Breasts & Thighs” team won the 34th Annual
Poultry Days Ultimate Tournament making this their third championship
at Poultry Days. Not only did ultimate teams from throughout the
country compete and have fun they also raised $9,500 for The Leukemia
and Lymphoma Society with their Cool Hand Luke Egg Eating
Contest. The winner ate 25 hardboiled eggs and was a member of
the Unexpected Fowl team from Texas. Fifty-nine teams with nearly
as many members present as the total population of Versailles competed,
including teams from Montana, Texas, and Toronto, Canada.
Under YOLO’s leadership registration for the 5K increased to 508 with
another 100 participating in the Fun Run making it one of Darke
County’s largest 5Ks. Libby Long of Covington won the women’s
division for the second consecutive year with a time of 18:22.2, while
Kyle Bowman of Troy won the men’s division with a time of
16:05.4. Top team finishers were Team Addie Girl, Team YOLO, and
Tigers in Training. For more results go to
www.yoloorg.com. The 3rd annual SuperFit results were:
LouAnn Henderson of Wyoming won 1st place in the women’s 45+, John
Thiebeau of Versailles won 1st place in the men’s 45+, Angel
Shiverdecker of Arcanum won 1st place for women 35-44, Travis Beeson of
Columbus won 1st place for men 35-44, Brandon Wirrig of Bradford won
1st place for men 18-34 for the third year in a row, and Matt Kelch of
Versailles won 1st place for men 25-34. Cornhole Tournament
Champions were: Thomas Braughton of West Alexandra, Ohio and Johnny
Haworth of Lewisburg, Ohio, 2nd Place went to Travis Jess of Piqua and
Ray Monnin of Houston and 3rd Place went to Rob Rodriques of Versailles
and Jamie Fisherback of Huber Heights.
The Darke County Photography Show held their County Photography Show
for the third year at Poultry Days drawing photographers from
throughout the surrounding area. Best of Show went to Ruth
McDaniel, Student Best of Show went to Taylor Davis and the
Presidential award went to Noah Sealscott. The student 12
and Up winner was Taylor Davis, Photo Journalism First Place was
Jeannie Grosch, Architecture First Place was Jeannie Grosch, People
First Place was Tiffanie Mora and Unclassified First Place was Tiffanie
Mora.
The Poultry Days Flower Show was overflowing with flowers again this
year and as always well managed by the Versailles Garden Club.
Winners for 2015 were: Leona Monnin won Best of Show for her
delphinium. Alan Monnin won Best of Show for his red rose, Hybrid
Tea "Liebensgauber". The Best of Show in the Artistic
Arrangements was won by Alan Monnin for his entry in "Having a Ball"
featuring alliums and a well-used ball glove.
In the Two on Two Basketball Tournament for Boys 10-11, 1st place went
to “Takeover” (Jaydon Litten and Layne Sarver), 2nd place went to “Blue
Flames” (Joe Ruhenkamp and Ben Ruhenkamp). For Boys 12-13, 1st
place went to “Loramie Elite” (Adam Deweese and Nick Brandewie), 2nd
place went to “Flyin T’s” (Reece Stammen and Issac Barga). For
boys 14-17, 1st place went to “Talls and Smalls” (Kyle Pothast and
Carter May), 2nd place went to “Splash Bros” (Blake Holthous and Mason
Dapore). For Men 18-30, 1st place went to “4th Place” (Jacob
Wenning and Chad Winner) and 2nd place went to “Thunder Mid Flight”
(Justin Ahrens and Ryan Knapke).
Winners of the Free Kiddie Tractor Pull sponsored by US Bank were: 3-4
Year Olds: 1st Place, Jayden Delancey of Grove Hill; 2nd Place, Ryder
Brown of Versailles; 3rd Place, Damien Whittaker of Russia. 5-6
Year Olds: 1st Place, Gavin Breeze of Versailles; 2nd Place, Landyn
Knapke of Versailles; 3rd Place, Kourtney Jenkinson of
Versailles. 7-8 Year Olds: 1st Place, Owen Demange of Versailles;
2nd Place, Cade Bergman of Yorkshire; 3rd Place, Andrew Lyons of
Versailles. These powerhouses pulled up to 350 pounds to
earn their trophies!
The best of the show winners in the Cake show were chosen by our judges
for height, texture, and flavor. Best of Show Winners were:
Girls – Shyanne Oliver. Women – Natalie Oliver.
Girls Flavored – Kaia Kruckenberg. Chocolate – Madilyn Kelch.
Boys – Ben Gehret. Men – Josh Munroe. Sr Women – Leona
Monnin. Adult Flavored – Katelyn Goettemoeller. Best of
Show in the Egg Events were: White Eggs – Elana Oliver, Brown Eggs –
Edward DeLoye, Unusual Eggs – Kyle Miller. Adult Dyed Egg Art –
Mary Miller, Adult Egg Art – Kristy Miller. Youth Dyed Egg Art –
Mackenzie Bohman. Youth Egg Art – Katelyn Delzeith.
It’s a long wait for the next festival but there is little rest for the
board which is already making notes for how to improve the
festival. Their monthly meetings resume in August as they
continue to advance the festival and find a way to beat that chicken
sales record. We want to thank our partners and volunteers
along with everyone who visited the festival and invite you to visit
Versailles again on June 10, 11 and 12th, 2016 for the 65th annual
Poultry Days. For more information go to
www.versaillespoultrydays.com.
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2015 Ultimate Champions - Breasts
& Thighs from Michigan and other points in the US
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Charlene Thornhill-Judge, Leona Monnin and Alan Monnin Best of Show
winners and in the
Poultry Days Flower Show and Judy Shappie, Show
Co-chair.
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Commercial Award – Midmark
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Lady Tiger basketball team with the Poultry Days Court (former
Lady
Tiger crowned Miss Chick)
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Rhylan Broerman (center) 2015 Little Miss Poultry Days, First runner-up
Averi Ahrns (left) and
Second runner-up Caleigh Stebbins (right).
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Taylor Stover 1st runner-up (left), Christa Puthoff 2015 Miss Chick
(center) and
Rachel Osterloh 2nd runner-up (right)
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Winners of the 10-11 year old boys division – Joe Ruhenkamp, Ben
Ruhenkamp (2nd Place) &
Jaydon Litten and Layne Sarver (1st place)
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