COLUMBUS — The two Ohios — the city and the country — came together Friday as they have every summer for almost 150 years at the Ohio State Fair.

Tony Hopson, 6, enjoys his milking lesson Friday with the help of Lucas Hayes of Mecaniscburg. His cow is one display at the Gilligan Barn. (Ernest Coleman photos) | ZOOM |

        Friday afternoon, in the Gilligan Livestock Building, Ohio's two distinct cultures came together in Lucas Hayes, a young dairy farmer from Mechanicsburg, and 4-year-old Melinda Hopson of Columbus, as they crouched over a bucket under the swinging udders of a Brown Swiss cow.

        “Now, honey, all you do is grab hold of this and give it a little twist,” Mr. Hayes said, placing a fat, pink udder in the girl's tiny hand.

        A few milky drops plopped in the bucket.

        Melinda gave her mom, Karen Hopson, a gap-toothed grin.

        “You're a farmer now,” said Mrs. Hopson, as her son, 6-year-old Tony, took his turn.

        “That's where my milk comes from,” Tony said, proudly. “From a cow.”

Johnny Jamison, 16, and Melody Greulich, 15, from Zanesville visited the midway. | ZOOM |

        The Hopsons live in a place where milk comes from a plastic bottle; for Mr. Lucas, milk means getting up before dawn to tackle a herd of oft-times reluctant cows.

        “I love showing the city kids how it's done,” said Mr. Lucas, who is showing prime specimens from his herd at the Junior Fair here this week. “They love it, too.”

        The Ohio State Fair began in 1850 on a 10-acre plot in Cincinnati's Camp Washington — an escape for city folks into a world of livestock and plump, prize-winning vegetables and a chance for farm people — particularly the children — to show off the product of a hard year's labor and celebrate their way of life.

        Friday was the kickoff of this year's fair, an event that will run through Aug. 18 and, if the recent past is any indication, draw nearly 1 million people to the Ohio Exposition Center north of downtown.

        Fair organizers had a rough time Friday — intermittent power outages shut down rides, food sales and the giant fans in the barns.

        “We better get some power or we're going to have a serious problem with these animals,” said dairy farmer Phil Keener of West Salem, as he threw pitchforks of hay into his dairy cattle stalls.

        In the Gilligan barn, the temperature was more than 90 degrees early Friday afternoon, but it did not slow 14-year-old Kassi Jabrey of Adams County, whose family has a herd of Ayrshire dairy cattle near Winchester.

IF YOU GO

When: The 149th Ohio State Fair continues through Aug. 18. Gates open 9 a.m. Midway open Sunday-Thursday 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to midnight.     Where: Take Interstate 71 north to 17th Avenue/Exit 111 to the Ohio Exposition Center.     Cost: $8, $7 for children 5-12 and seniors 60-plus. Children under 5 free. Parking $5.     Discounts: Save up to $3 with $5 tickets available through Aug. 18 at Kroger, participating AAA locations, participating Advance Auto Parts stores and Ticketmaster outlets.     Web site: www.ohiostatefair.com

        She sat at the Ohio Junior Ayrshire Club booth selling raffle tickets to raise money for the club. The prize: a newborn Ayrshire calf, which slept nearby in a tiny pen.

        “My grandfather started the farm back in 1949,” Kassi said. “I love the farm. I love the animals. I know there are a lot of people my age who leave the farm, but this is what I want to do.”

        She and her siblings will show their animals in the Junior Fair. For them, the state fair is the culmination of a year of hard work, raising and grooming animals that they hope will catch the eye of a judge as they are led around a hay-strewn arena.

        It is the same for the Braumlich family of Mount Vernon.

        They bring the lambs they raise on their 15-acre farm to the Knox County Fair and the state fair each summer. Thirteen-year-old Katherine Braumlich brushed the coat of her market lamb Friday as her three-year-old sister, Claire, stood on tiptoes to help.

        “I've been doing this all my life,” Katherine said. “Ever since I was little like Claire.”

        As Claire and Katherine worked, families of city folks walked by pushing strollers, admiring the sheep and letting their little ones run their hands over the wool.

        “I like to let my kids see a way of life that they don't ordinarily see,” said Yvette Morris, a Columbus mother with her three little girls.

        For the farm families, the important business takes place in the barns and livestock arenas, where families lay their sleeping bags in the straw, cook their meals on small gas grills, and live with their animals for the length of the livestock competition.

        But for the city people, the fair is mostly about the midway, where they can ride the rides until their stomachs — full of Italian sausages, corndogs and curly french fries — churn. They can take a chance on the “Crazy Bike” or the “Monster Truck Race” games; and win prizes like an inflatable Spiderman or SpongeBob SquarePants dolls.

City swelters under heat emergency
Heat wave burns '01 temperatures
Adult movies in hotels targeted
Exception to notification rule
Loveland plans ceremony to remember Sept. 11 victims
Man faces kid porn charges
Marge Schott hospitalized at Jewish
Missing girl photo given golf spectators
Obituary: St. Ursula senior Makena Comisar, 17, 'a blessing'
Ohio State Fair's where city meets the country
Faith Matters
MCNUTT: Neighborhoods
SAMPLES GUTIERREZ: Speak carefully
AARP honors volunteer
Bank robber had long record
Drug dealer seeks years off
New drug unit will cover Warren, Clinton areas
Attorney: Dad given custody before girl's 'kidnapping'
Church challenges ordinance
Gun found in man's carry-on at airport
Parachute flyer probably drowned