Last week, Mike Swartz, director of the McLean County Farm Bureau and manager of the Interstate Center, announced that in an effort to employ fewer Bloomington police overnight, he was proposing a new gate schedule.

Public Gates will shut down at 9 PM – there will be no entry after that time.

4-Hers with a wrist band can get in until 11 PM but only for banded members – no friends, etc. ONLY 4-H arm band wearers.

Public gates are slated to re-open between 7-8 AM, but 4-Hers and their families should be able to access earlier than that through the North Gate accessed from College Avenue.

The Cloverbud Crownbearers for this years Royalty contest are:

Lauren Mohr (age 5) of Carlock Clever Cloverbuds

and

Zach Stoltz (age 6) of Towanda 4-H Cloverbuds

They were randomly drawn from over 30 entries for the 4-H Cloverbud Crownbearer drawing contest. They will present the crown and hat to the Queen and King at this year's McLean County 4-H royalty contest during the McLean County Fair on July 29.

Congratulations 4-Hers, your fair entries are all turned in!! We've received a mountain of entries usually around 11,000 of them! We will have verifications out in the mail sometime next week.

In your verification letter, be sure to check to see if there is any special information you need for an exhibit. Many exhibits have supplements that can be downloaded from the fair website or they can be picked up at the Extension Office. Here is the link to the Fair website's Forms & Downloads page: http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/mclean/fair/downloads.html

You'll want to pick up your fair wristband sometime after you receive your verification form. All 4-H members, Cloverbuds and Leaders (who are not fair superintendents), may pick up their entry wristband from the Extension Office prior to 5pm on Friday July 24 OR from the 4-H Fair Office at the Interstate Center during exhibit check in Tuesday July 28. (Some members 4-H leaders may have picked up all of the wristbands for your club.) You might check with your leader before coming from out of town.

Help is Needed for Fair Set Up, July 25^th at 10:00 am and Fair Clean Up, August 2^nd following checkout. We need all kinds of help, kids to count ribbons, clean displays, arrange tables, adults with power tools – help make your fair great!!

Looking for things to do at the fair? Be a fair tour guide or building host/hostess with your parents! You can volunteer at the fair by filling out this link on our website or fill out the paper form that was included in the July newsletter that you should have at home. Fair Volunteer Form Online

There are just a few spots left to work at the Ice Cream Sundae Booth. Call Randy Lloyd at 309-663-8306 to see if your club has a spot they can fill!