West 



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A. RECORD 



Record Participation Sure At 

 Farm Sports Festival 



116 Soft Ball Teams To Compete, Entries In Folk Festival and Other Events Full 



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'YES of the nation are on Illinois 

 this week while final arrange- 

 ments for the third annual Il- 

 linois Farm Sports Festival are being 

 completed. Two days of fun, sport and 

 entertainment at the big farm field day 

 on the campus of the University of Il- 

 linois, Champaign-Urbana, Friday and 

 Saturday, September 2 and 3, are ready 

 for you. 



As we go to press, 116 top- flight soft- 

 ball teams have entered five state cham- 

 pionship tournaments. With the final 

 day for entries in other events yet a 

 week away, nearly 70 counties have in- 

 dicated that they will be represented at 

 the Festival. 



The hottest contest in the 14-year his- 

 tory of the Illinois Farm Bureau Base- 

 ball League is in prospect. Six outstand- 

 ing teams, all divisional champions, will 

 be ready for the epic title scrap which 

 opens on Illinois Field, Friday at 10:00 

 A.M. and continues through the next 

 afternoon. Eight games have been sched- 

 uled including preliminary, consolation 

 and final battles. 



One Undecided 



Divisional championship is yet to be 

 decided between Bond, Fayette, Macou- 

 pin and Montgomery in Division V. 

 Teams assured of a place in the tourna- 

 ment are Carroll in northwestern Illi- 

 nois, Will in eastern Illinois, DeKalb 

 in the north central section, Woodford 

 in the Peoria area, and McLean in Cen- 

 tral Illinois. 



Leading in number of entries is the 

 boys' 4-H Club softball division with 

 41 teams. Following closely is the All- 

 County division with 35 teams entered. 

 Sixteen Adult county league teams, 12 

 teams of Farm Bureau members over 35 

 and 12 girls teams have entered. 



For the first time in Festival history, 

 farm women bid fair to steal the show 

 with 30 counties entered in a series of 

 special women's events. New on this 

 year's program are chair quoits, paddle 

 tennis, shuffle board, clock golf and darts 

 throwing. Entrants have been selected 

 largely through County Home Bureaus. 



Illinois royalty will add to the show. 

 ^King" and "Duke," a team of grade 

 Percherons weighing 4,395 pounds with- 

 out harness, holders of the worlds title 

 with a pull of 3,950 pounds, will risk 

 their state championship in a pull against 



SEPTEMBER. 1 938 



two heavy teams owned by Willard 

 Rhoads of Springfield. The contest, in 

 charge of E. T. Robbins, University of 

 Illinois, will take place south of the 

 Memorial Stadium at 10:00 A.M. Sat- 

 urday, Sept. 3. 



The champion team is owned by War- 

 ren Buckley and are driven by Pliny 

 Baird. They are used for general farm 

 work on the 600-acre Cedardell farm in 

 Kendall county. At the Illinois State 

 Fair the team pulled 3,050 pounds to 

 win first prize. 



Most colorful division of the big two- 

 day event will be the Folk Festival in 

 which six contests are scheduled. Fam- 

 ily singers, square dance and folk dance 

 groups, and musical specialty and novelty 

 artists will swing into their contests at 

 9:00 A.M. in the George Huff Gym- 

 nasium Friday. At 1:00 P.M. Friday 

 in the same place, novelty and square 

 dance bands and specialty dancers will 

 get into their tournament. 



Music and Dance Events 



The music and dance specialties con- 

 test was added to the program for the 

 first time this year, includes instrumental 

 solos, duets, old time fiddlers bands and 

 other instrumental groups; vocal solos, 

 duets, trios, quartets, choirs or choruses; 

 tap or clog dance solos or teams; and 

 monologues, dialogues, skits, stunts and 

 impersonations. 



Winners of these contests will appear 

 on the Friday evening program in the 

 Memorial Stadium at 7:00 P.M. Friday. 

 With them will appear the Mountaineers 

 and Lazy Jim Day of radio station WDZ, 

 Tuscola, Pokey Martin and the De21urik 

 Sisters of WLS, Chicago, and Farmer 



Broadcasts 



WLS— Chicago WILL— University 



WDZ — Tuscola and 



WMBD— Peoria ! 

 Friday 



2:30— 3:00 P. M. 



4:00— 4:15 P. M. ' 

 Saturday 



2:30— 3:00 P. M. ' 



4:30— 4:45 P. M. ' 



WDWS 



ChampaiRn 



AND KMOX 

 Sc. Louis 



Schedules To Be 

 Announced it Later 

 Date. 



Bill with the Buffalo Trailers of WMBD, 

 Peoria. 



An inspiring fxirtion of the program 

 will be the singing of selections from 

 the cantata, "Harvest Caravans," by the 

 Illinois Rural Chorus of 500 voices. 



Big Jim McMilien, Lake county farm- 

 er, and Fred Grubmier, Iowa farmer, 

 are scheduled for an entertaining wrest- 

 ling meet on the evening program. Both 

 are well-known in professional wrestling 

 circles. 



Following the entertainment under the 

 stars in the stadium. Festival fans and 

 fanettes are invited to attend a social 

 hour and dance with music by Dick 

 Cisnes orchestra in the George Huff 

 Gym. 



Open to all are the fun contests which 

 include catching a greased pig, a blue- 

 berry pie-eating contest without the aid 

 of hands, and a costume race. A couple 

 of clowns, too, will add to the gaiety. 



New contests of especial interest to 

 out-of-doorsmcn are bait casting and 

 skeet shooting. Both trap and skeet 

 shooting will take place at the Cham- 

 paign Gun Club, one-quarter mile south 

 of the Champaign Air Port, Friday at 

 9:00 A.M. One trap will be available 

 all day for practice. 



Horseshoe pitching, tug-o-war, track, 

 hog calling and most of the other old 

 standby contests are on the program. 



Diving and Swimming 



Exhibitions of diving and swimming 

 will be featured during the swimming 

 meets in the pool of the George HufI 

 Gym at 1 1 :00 A.M. Saturday. 



There will be two tours of the Uni- 

 versity farm, the iirst at 4:00 P.M. Fri- 

 day, the other at 8:00 A.M. Saturday. 

 Tourists will meet at the north east en- 

 trance of the New Agricultural building. 

 For other sightseers the Natural History 

 museum will be open all day Friday 

 and Saturday. 



Five radio stations, WLS, WDZ, 

 WILL, WDWS and KMOX, plan to 

 broadcast several rimes during the Fes- 

 tival. 



Awards will be made to counties ac- 

 cording to the number of individuals 

 participating. Counties will be grouped 

 in districts according to distance from 

 the Festival. 



