“I thought I’d get more dirty,” she said.

The event, held in the show arena, is an obstacle course where teams of four have to complete farm-related tasks as they race against the clock — and each other.

While wearing grossly oversized rubber boots.

O’Connor was the first participant to jump into the boots before opening and closing a gate, climbing a fence, going through a tractor tire, picking up a soaped watermelon then running back through a plastic tube whose bottom was lined with mud and other “debris” from the arena floor. Once the greasy melon was deposited in a bucket, off came the boots and then the next team member went.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Sylvia Wacholtz, 14, a member of the CC Sidekicks 4-H Club, makes a run for it with a greased watermelon Friday afternoon during the Barnyard Olympics at the Webster County Fair. Her team was called "Pinkalicious."

After her turn, the boots soon filled with mud.

Evie Barlow, 9, of Fort Dodge, with the Badger Builders 4-H Club, found most of the course a piece of cake.

“That was kind of easy,” she said.

She rated running in the boots as “It was hard” and climbing the fence got a “sort of hard.”

Her dad, Duran Barlow, watched his daughter compete.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
2021 Webster County Fair Queen Morgan Farnham, a member of the Gowrie Groundbreakers 4-H Club, helps spread a little soon to be mud around Friday afternoon during setup for the Barnyard Olumpics.

“I’m rooting them on,” Barlow said. “It’s good for the kids to get dirty and have some fun.”

Getting the clothes clean wasn’t on his radar.

“That’s mom’s job,” he joked.

Mylie Davis, of Dayton, found an easy solution to dealing with the mess afterwards. She had several children competing in the races.

“I bought them all dollar shirts so we can just throw it away,” she said. “We’ll just hose them off, probably with the kids in them.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
One of the teams participating in the Barnyard Olympics Friday afternoon at the Webster County Fair show just how dirty you can get running an obstacle course that includes a lot of mud.

In addition to the Barnyard Olympics, several other fair events provided entertainment and something to do between shows.

One of those was the roping demonstration.

Lisa Flaherty, of Fort Dodge, gave it a try under the careful tutelage of Iowa Central Community College Head Rodeo Coach Bridget Coleman.

Flaherty thought she might need a little more practice before embarking on a rodeo roping career.

“I’m going to stick with pharmacy,” Flaherty said.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Nora O'Connor, 12, of Fort Dodge, a member of the Douglas Dreamers 4-H Club, puts on a pair of oversized rubber boots Friday afterrnoon at the start of her heat in the Barnyard Olympics. As the event wore on the boots got more and more mud them.

One of the more unusual things to try at the fair Friday was the Iowa State Patrol “Seatbelt Convincer.”

The device, which consists of a seatbelt equipped car seat on an inclined ramp, simulates a 5-mile-per-hour impact when the sled the seat is mounted on rolls into a stop, a rather sudden stop, at the bottom.

Kenley Spece, 8, of Gowrie, gave it a try.

She didn’t have much to say after the jolt.

Back in the arena, one of the last teams to compete was “Pinkalicious.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
Creo Davis, 7, of Dayton, adopted the strategic rolling technique to move a greased watermelon along the course during the Barnyard Olympics at the Webster County Fair.

The four members wore pink shirts and the event cost Goldie Davis, 11, of Dayton, a member of the Dayton Tigers 4-H Club, her brand new pair of pink flamingo socks.

“There’s mud in the boots,” she said as she looked over her now muddy flamingo socks.