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PLAK HOW 



Sports Festival 



NEXT MONTH is Sports Festival 

 time again so let's make it easier 

 for the folks at your county Farm 

 or Home Bureau office this year 

 by signing up now for the events 

 you are going to take part in. 



The tenth annual Illinois Farm Sports 

 Festival will be held Thursday and Fri- 

 day, Aug. 25-26 at the University of Illi- 

 nois in Urbana-Champaign. It is a big 

 job for the men and women who are in 

 charge of all details for this great event. 

 You can make it quite a bit simpler for 

 them by signing up at your Farm or 

 Home Bureau office for individual or 

 team play as soon as possible. 



The Sports Festival was set up as a two- 

 day period of fun, sportsmanship, and 

 good clean play for Illinois farmers and 

 their families. Unless you and your 

 family take part it has very little value for 

 you. Join the fun and you enjoy yourself 

 and help your county Farm Bureau's final 

 standing. 



You don't have to be an expert. Let's 

 take tug o' war for example. All you 

 have to do is organize a tug o' war team. 

 Pull on the rope a little bit and there 

 you have added 80 points to your county 

 total. Yes, you get 80 points just for 

 taking part in the tug o' war contest. 



You know how to play checkers, don't 

 you? You know how to pitch horse- 

 shoes.' You don't have to be an expert 

 there either. You're probably better than 

 a lot of the fellows you'll be playing 

 against. But right off the bat Sports 

 Festival Secretary Roy Johnson will chalk 

 up participation points for your county 

 when you take part. If you win or take 

 second or third place your county will 

 receive additional points. 



It is suggested that a number of 



counties can lend color and excitement 

 to their county fairs by holding their own 

 or district elimination contests for the 

 state Sports Festival. Several counties, 

 like Champaign, Livingston, Iroquois, 

 DeKalb, Kane, and others, hold their 

 own Sports Festival and send the cream 

 of their players to the state Festival. 



This year's Sports Festival will be held 

 along the same lines as in previous years. 

 On hand to greet you for the two-day 

 schedule of events which draws 25,000 

 spectators and 4,500 participants will be 

 an impressive array qf radio talent, 

 orchestras, folk and square dancers, and 

 the Illinois Rural Chorus of 300 voices. 



The big Thursday night program of 

 music, dancing, and entertainment prom- 

 ises to be better than ever. It is under 

 the chairmanship of I. E. Parett of the 

 lAA and Mary McKee of the University 

 of Illinois. The program includes three 

 separate events — entertainment for those 



Trap Shoot — Aug. 1 2 



I HE Illinois Farm Bureau Trap and 

 Skeet Shoot will be held Friday, Aug. 

 12 at the Mather Gun Club near the old 

 airport on route 4 southwest of Spring- 

 field. 



Like last year it is being held in ad- 

 vance of the Illinois Farm Sports Festival 

 of which it is a part because of a con- 

 flict in dates with the All-American na- 

 tional shoot. 



Both the trap and skeet shoot will in- 

 clude numerous classes of competition 

 from a two brother team to a father and 

 son or mother and daughter combination. 

 Shooting will start at 8:30 a.m. 



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who like to watch, square dancing for 

 those who like it that way, and modern 

 dancing for those who like the waltz and 

 fox trot. 



The bowling and volleyball tourna- 

 ments were played off in late spring to 

 avoid the possibility of hot weather in 

 August. 



The Festival gets underway at 9 a.m. 

 Thursday when 150 or more Softball 

 teams square off for action. Softball is 

 still the most popular sport, judging by 

 the number of teams entered. Softball 

 will be played by groups of all ages from 

 4-H'ers to men over 35. The hotly con- 

 tested games usually draw big crowds. 



One of the biggest attractions of the 

 Festival is the finals for the state cham- 

 pionship of the Illinois Farm Bureau 

 Baseball League. Excitement is usually 

 at fever pitch, the game is usually very 

 close, and a big league brand of baseball 

 is usually exhibited. Last year Will 

 county defeated DeKalb for the title. 



The folk festival, under Chairman E. 

 H. Regnier of the University Exten- 

 sion Service, includes barber shop quar- 

 tets, song leaders, county choruses, fam- 

 ily singers, 4-H choruses, adult singers, 

 junior singers, instrumental groups, 

 novelty and rhythm bands, square dance 

 bands, acrobatic and tap dancers, dia- 

 logues, skits, and stunts, and folk and 

 square dancers. 



Some of the event chairmen selected 

 include tug o' war, Dick O'Dell, Piatt 

 county; horseshoes. Dr. H. J. Snyder of 

 the College of Agriculture and checkers, 

 Frank Anderson, Ford county, and 

 George Merker, lAA. Anderson is secre- 

 tary of the Paxton Checker Club. Another 

 member of the club, R. M. Mason, secre- 

 tary of the Illinois Checker Association, 

 has offered his services. 



JULY. 1949 



