Lake County Fair agriculture display generates buzz

Traveling from station to station while picking crops on a simulated farm, residents are eager to learn more about agriculture.

The Lake County Fair’s Ag Adventure, a section featuring agricultural games and facts, was redesigned this year to include more displays, bees, and interactive games such as a carrot patch, a green house, and a fake hen that lays eggs.

The aim is to teach kids and adults about agriculture and the importance of agriculture in their lives.

Andy Blaul, information director for the Lake County Farm Bureau, said the displays were updated to incorporate more aspects of agriculture.

“We were given a new location and a larger area,” Blaul said. “Everything’s cleaner, brighter, and newer.”

Inside a fenced-in area with several agriculture stations surrounding a red farm house, kids are given buckets to collect plastic crops. At the last station, they separate the crops into various buckets, organizing them for the “grocery store truck.”

With a red bucket in hand, 2-year-old Adela Alapai-Rezbek, carried an apple she picked off a plastic tree and a potato she dug out of a sand pit Thursday morning. Her mother, Hoku Alapai-Rezbek, said the only time her daughter sees food is when it’s already cooked and on her plate.

“Most kids only see it when it’s at the grocery store. They don’t know how it’s grown or what goes into it,” she said. “This is a cute concept. They (children) understand the process before having to explain it to them.”

Across the farm, people gather to watch hundreds of honey bees buzzing on top of a large honeycomb.

Ann Miller and Loretta Caravette, members of the Illinois Beekeeping Club, who each have over two beehives at their homes, stand near the hive answering questions. Continuing with the agricultural theme, the two beekeepers said they hope to share information to show how bees help pollinate and impact food supply.

“We’re experiencing a colony collapse, whether it’s from pesticides, we’re not sure,” Miller said. “We could lose huge amounts of food sources if bees continue to die.”

George Koeppen, executive director of the Lake County Farm Bureau, said Ag Adventure was designed to let people experience what it’s like to be a farmer on a basic level.

“From the clothes we wear to the food we eat, farmers are a vital part of our every day lives,” Koeppen said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to dispel the perception that all our produce comes from the grocery store.”