Butler County Fair work a tradition for one family

Jenni Tussey can’t remember a year when she didn’t go to the Butler County Fair.

Attendance is a family tradition: Tussey’s mother, Patsy Morhead, has been superintendent of the art hall since the early 1960s, Morhead’s mother was superintendent before her, and the great-grandmother of Tussey’s husband was superintendent before them both.

“At some point in my life, I’ll probably be asked (to be an art hall superintendent),” Tussey said Wednesday. “I’ll probably have a hard time turning it down because it’s such a sentimental thing to have all your family members involved in it.”

The entire family participated in the 4-H program as children, and many of the adults were 4-H advisors at some point. Tussey’s three children were showing their projects at the fair, and her 15-year-old daughter Rachel, who raised pigs and rabbits this year, said that she looks up to her older family members and sees “what my role is going to be in a couple of years.”

Both Tussey and Morhead showed sewing projects when they were in school.

“Back then the girls did sewing and the guys did animals,” Morhead remembered. “Well, a few girls did animals,” she said after being prompted by a woman sitting nearby, another 4-H veteran who had shown sheep.

The family has seen other changes in the fair over the decades. One that stood out the most to them was the “nice new building” that houses the art hall, where quilts, photographs, floral arrangements and similar crafts are displayed.

The old 19th century structure was replaced a couple of years ago. The new building is just one of the ways Tussey has seen the fair “try to keep up with being more modern, because you can’t stay in the old times and keep people coming.”

What hasn’t changed, however, is the commitment of families like Tussey’s who have been involved in the fair for generations. Rachel, for example, already plans to try to get her children “involved in 4-H, because it’s great.”

“(What’s important is) the amount of family tradition and the history and how people teach their kids the 4-H values and pass them to the next generation,” Tussey said. “That’s what I’m doing, passing it on again.”

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