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A postcard from the Missouri State Fair

Harum Helmy
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KBIA News

This week for the show, I went to the Missouri State Fair and all you’re getting is this audio postcard.

Credit Harum Helmy / KBIA News
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KBIA News

First, I talked to Marlys Peck, who, along with her family, has been selling corn dogs at the fair for more than 41 years. Every year, Peck and her parents spend the state-fair week under the same tree near the historic Womens Building. 

"I grew up under this tree," Peck says. "In a sense, yeah. I was 8 when we started. I love this tree, if anything happened to it, lightning, if they took it down, I'd be so upset."

Peck teaches social work at the University of Central Missouri.   

Credit Harum Helmy / KBIA News
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KBIA News

Next, at the fair's poultry show, I watched as one guy kept pulling chickens out of their tiny cages and putting them back in. Steve Jones turned out to be a certified judge with the American Poultry Association. Jones came all the way to Missouri from Texas and says he gets to travel a lot for his job. 

"It's like a second childhood," Jones said. "I get to meet cool new people and look at beautiful birds."

Credit Harum Helmy / KBIA News
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KBIA News
Elissa Hoyt showed two of her largest hogs at the fair. The activity ran in the family: her older sister also showed pigs.

Next, I went to the fair's massive swine barn and met Elissa Hoyt, a young woman who's passionate about agricultural education. In addition to showing me where the ham is located on a hog ("The top of their back legs," she said. "You mean its butt?" I asked. "Yeah, its butt. I was trying to be nice," she said), she also taught me that pigs love marshmallows. 

Credit Harum Helmy / KBIA News
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KBIA News
Hog #28 sniffs at a bag of marshmallows.

If you ever have the opportunity to feed marshmallows to a hog, all you have to do is tap the hog's snout with the marshmallow and it will open its mouth to welcome the food. 

Harum Helmy started as KBIA's Health and Wealth reporter in January 2013. She has previously worked at the station as a news assistant, helping assign and edit stories by student reporters. Harum grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia and graduated from MU with degrees in journalism and anthropology in 2011. She's trying to finish up an MA in journalism.