THIS is the month of the ninth an- 

 nual Illinois Fann Sports Festival. 

 Aug. 26-27 are the dates. So now is 

 the time to make your final plans to 

 attend this great rural music and 

 sports pageant. 



On hand to greet and entertain you on 

 the campus of the University of Illinois 

 at Champaign-Urbana during the thrill 



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packed two-day event will be a galaxy of 

 popular radio stars, orchestras for the big 

 swing and barn dance jamborees, the 

 Illinois Rural Chorus with 300 mixed 

 voices, plus 4,500 rural athletes compet- 

 ing in Softball, track, trap shooting, bowl- 

 ing and more than 50 music, dance, and 

 sports events. 



It will be bigger and better than ever 

 this year. Many Softball, bowling, and 

 folk festival events have grown so large 

 that district elimination contests have 

 been necessary. TTiese district winners, 

 already selected to represent their coun- 

 ties, will make competition tougher than 

 ever. 



An old favorite in radio entertairunent 

 —the WLS Dinner Bell hour— will be 

 back again to broadcast from festival 

 headquarters Thursday and Friday noon. 

 It will include interviews with persons 

 taking part in sports and folk festival 

 events. Radio talent from the National 

 Barn Dance will appear also during the 

 general evening and afternoon programs. 



The Illinois State Rural Chorus, under 

 the direction of R. G. Haley, will provide 

 one of the big entertainment thrills of the 

 festival. Composed of 300 voices drawn 



from county choruses, this group will 

 travel to the festival from the Illinois 

 State Fair and will then go by special 

 train to Canada on a singing tour. 

 The festival will start on Thursday 

 morning at 9 o'clock when the softball 

 and other teams pair oflf for two days of 



CUtihJi 



grueling elimination contests. 



The sport with the greatest number 

 of teams entered is again softball, a 

 game that has skyrocketed in popularity 

 throughout rural Illinois in recent years. 

 At the referee's command to "play ball" 

 150 or more softball teams will start 

 blazing away on University diamonds. 



Softball will be played by groups of 

 all ages — from 4-H'ers to men over 35 — 

 •and the hotly contested games will draw 

 big crowds. 



Roy Johnson, secretary of the festival 

 and lAA director of special services, es- 

 timates that at least 600 Farm Bureau 

 softball teams have been entered in 

 leagues this summer. Of this number, 217 

 survived for the district contests and ap- 

 proximately 150 won the right to go to 

 the state festival for a try at a state cham- 



Bowfing, also caught in a tidal wave of 

 popularity among farm men and women, 

 will be heavily represented at the festival. 

 More that 300 survivors from district 

 meetings will compete for state crowns. 

 The district bowling contests were held 

 throughout Illinois early this summer in 

 May and June and attracted an estimated 

 1,200 keglers. 



No Break in Price Level 

 Expected in Twelve Months 



Farmers need not worry about a break 

 in the general price level during the next 

 12 months. 



There may be some changes and ad- 

 justments in individual prices, but the 

 general level should remain high. This 

 analysis is based upon a report made by 

 L. J. Norton, agricultural economist at 

 the University of Illinois College of Ag- 

 riculture. 



Norton gives three major reasons for 

 expecting general farm prices to remain 

 high. First, there's a huge volume of 



construction and capital investment. Sec- 

 ond, this country probably will continue 

 to export more than it imports. And, 

 third, there is no real move to reduce fed- 

 eral spending — but taxes have been re- 

 duced. 



If there is a good corn crop this 

 year, corn prices may move down the 

 scale because of the reduction in livestock 

 numbers. Increased exports of corn and 

 other feed grains, however, may help to 

 oflFset this reduction in price. 



The colorful trap and skeet shoot 

 which last year drew more than 3,000 

 fans and followers at the state festival 

 held early this year on Aug. 6 to 



was 



avoid a conflicting date with the AU- 

 American Trap Shoot. Many Illinois 



farmers who enter the shoot at the Sports 

 Festival have won recognition nationally 

 as marksmen. Jim Holderman, chairman 

 of the festival trap shoot and Farm 

 Bureau president in Grundy county, is a 

 former winner of the All-American Trap 

 Shoot. 



Survivors of district folk contests will 

 also be on hand at the state festival to 

 defend their skills. They represent the 

 best of rural talent from the 61 counties 

 that entered music, drama, and dance 

 events in 12 district meetings at Liberty- 

 ville, MendoU, Effingham, Galesburg, 

 Champaign, Oregon, Yorkville, Carlin- 

 ville, Eureka, Elgin, Carbondale, and 

 Woodstock. 



Other events at the state meeting will 

 include: archery, golf, baseball, softball, 

 bowling, checkers, hog calling, horse- 

 shoes, swimming, track, dock golf, knot 

 tying, shuffleboard, barber shop quartet 

 singing, novelty bands, and folk and 

 square dahcing. 



On Thursday evening there will be a 

 "three-ring" circus of music, dancing, 

 and entertairunent. A square dance jam- 

 boree will be held on the third floor of 

 Huff gym for those who like the old time 

 dances and a swing dance on the main 

 floor of Huff gym for those who like 

 modern dancing. For those who would 

 rather look on, a general program, draw- 

 ing on the music and dance talent from 

 the folk festival, wiil be held at the uni- 

 versity auditorium. 



The climax of the two-day event will 

 be the staging of several final contests, 

 such as woodchopping and hog-calling, at 

 the Stadium Friday afternoon, the award- 

 ing of ribbons and trophies to winners, 

 the parade of sport and festival stars, and 

 the selection of a Sports Festival queen. 



At this Friday afternoon program, a 

 championship trophy will be awarded the 

 winning county. A second will also be 

 awarded the county highest in sports 

 events and a third trophy to the county 

 highest in folk events. 



In addition to these awards, the county 

 with the greatest number of points in 

 each of the 16 districts will be given a 

 district championship trophy. 



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L A. A. RECORD 



