David Blggi, JaclHon county, 

 last yaar'i Sports Festival 

 watermelon eating cham- 

 pion, chomps a final mouth- 

 ful. 



are you 



READY 

 for the 



SPORTS 



FESTIVAL 



ABOUT the time this issue of the 

 Record reaches you, your county 

 should be pretty-well settled on 

 the type ■ of Sports Festival pro- 

 gram it is planning to participate 

 in at Champaign-Urbana Aug. 26-27. 



So if you haven't already advised your 

 Farm Bureau of the sports events you 

 would like to enter next August, you had 

 better do so this month. By helping 

 your own Farm Bureau get organized on 

 its participation schedule, you will make 

 it much easier for the men in charge of 

 the Illinois Farm Sports Festival to do a 

 better job on a bigger and better show 

 Aug. 26-27. 



Changes in sport and music events of 

 the ninth annual Sports Festival have 

 been announced by Roy Johnson, lAA 

 secretary of special services, following a 

 recent meeting in Chicago of the state- 

 wide festival committee. 



All bowling and several Softball classes 

 will be held on a district elimination 

 basis, Johnson said. The district cham- 

 pions will then go on to the state Sports 

 Festival to be held at Champaign-Urbana 

 Aug. 26-27. 



District bowling contests are in prog- 

 ress now and most districts will be fin- 

 ished by May 15. District play will be 

 held in 4-H, Rural Youth, and all-county 

 division of Softball throughout the 

 summer with the number entering the 

 state Sports Festival limited to 32 teams. 



In the girls open and 4-H classes, and 

 the men's over 35-ers, the number of 

 teams entering the state contest will be 

 limited to 16 but district play will not 

 be held unless total entries exceed this 

 number. 



This year at the state Sports Festival 

 contest a trophy will be awarded the 

 winning county. Trophies will also be 

 awarded the county highest in sports 

 events and the county highest in folk 

 events. 



Johnson said that in addition to these 

 awards, the county with the greatest num- 

 ber of points in each of the 16 districts 

 will be given a district championship 

 trophy. 



All class A entries in the district folk 

 festival contests will take part in the 

 state folk festival contests in Champaign- 

 Urbana. District folk festival contests 

 will be under the direction of E. H. 

 Regnier of the University of Illinois. 



Other changes this year include sep- 

 arate classes for 4-H, Rural Youth, and an 

 open division in square and folk danc- 

 ing. 



Men's classes have been added in chair 

 quoits, clock golf, shuffle board, table 

 tennis, and dart throwing. These events 

 have been limited to women. 



Track events for boys and girls have 

 been reduced to: 50 yard dash, 8 pound 

 shot put, high and broad jump for boys 

 under 16; 100 yard dash for boys 16 and 

 older; and 50 yard dash, and high and 

 broad jump for girls under 16. 



In the folk festival all solo numbers 

 have been eliminated with the exception 

 of the community song leader and bal- 

 lad singer. County bands, adult and 

 junior vocal groups, and a class for 4-H 

 chorus groups have been added. 





Illinois has iteen divided Into the above 16 

 districts for the 1948 annual Farm Sports 

 Festival. They will be subject to modifica- 

 tion for the 1949 Sports Festival. 



L A. A. RECORD 



