the top three winning teams in each division
receive medals and cash prizes (first place $100; second place - $50 and third place - $25).
Teams consist of at least two people, but no
more than four of any gender. Most events
require 1-2 team members each.
to their hen’s nest and gathers eggs, one at a
time, trying to find the lone hard-boiled egg in
the nest. To find that egg they must run back
with one egg at a time and crack it over their
teammate’s head. The team that finds the hardboiled egg first wins.
So, what are these Olympic events? The
first is “Stack’n Hay,” where a team of two is
given one minute to throw bales of hay/straw
off a pickup truck and stack them on a pallet as
high as they can before time is called. If any
of the bales fall when time is called, the judges
count how many are left standing. Another
event,“Toss’n Grain” consists of a team of two
who toss a bag of grain. The team who tosses it
the farthest wins the event.
Each year, more and more teams enter as
the audience has grown in numbers. Teams
get quite creative with their team names as
well, adding to the fun. Morgan County Farm
Bureau directors serve as judges, timers and
announcers, and set up the various events.
While events are being set up, the Morgan
County 4-H Program Director, Cindy Smalley,
holds other games for those kids under age
11, so there is always something going on for
the crowd to watch. There are sack and threelegged races and even an egg toss.
Now the Olympics move into the running
events: “Go’n to Town” has two teammates
racing to town (actually up and around a cone
and back to the starting line). This game always
has the audience in stitches as one team member
pushes the other team member (who must be in
a dress) in a wheelbarrow up to the cone, where
they switch places. The crowd cheers while
the teammate in a dress tries to remove it and
the other tries to put it on, all while attempting
to beat the clock. They cannot head for home
until the other teammate has the dress on with
both arms in the sleeves of the dress. “Come
on Back” uses the wheelbarrow again with
two teammates. This time the wheelbarrow
driver is blindfolded and the teammate in the
wheelbarrow must give directions to the driver
all while going in and out of cones, and then
racing back to the starting line. This event is
also timed and teams are penalized if they miss
or tip over a cone.
So if you don’t have anything on your
schedule and want to compete or just watch and
laugh your head off, visit Berkeley Springs the
last Saturday evening in July and then stay for
the fireworks that close the day’s events. It’s a
perfect way to end a summer evening.
For “Herd’n Livestock”, one team member
uses a yardstick and tries to move their potato
“cow” through an obstacle course which mimics
moving cattle from one field to another. What
makes this event more difficult is the use of an
odd-shaped potato - the more odd, the better.
The team with the fastest time minus any
penalties wins. The event always left for the
end is “Fetch’n Eggs”. One team member runs
West Virginia Farm Bureau News 21