About 80,000 people celebrated the county's agricultural history at the recently completed 63rd annual Howard County Fair, in West Friendship.

Featured at the eight-day fair, which ran Aug. 2-9, were traditional activities, such as cow milking contests, square dancing and a chain saw carving auction.

Comfortable temperatures led to one of the largest attended fairs in history, said H. Mitchell Day, Howard County Fair Association president.

Day said he was pleased the large crowd at the fair, despite the declining economy.

New to this year's fair was the Skid Loader competition on Aug. 4. About 100 people cheered on 55 competitors who drove these mini bulldozers through an obstacle course, which included putting a basketball in a bucket, stacking three tires on a peg and driving on top of logs while putting a bucket of water on a tree stump without spilling, Day said.

Caitlan Patrick, 18, from Woodbine, won Miss Howard County Farm Bureau, generally referred to as the farm queen.

Little Miss Howard County Farm Bureau went to Jennifer Brigante, 10, from Woodbine. The Howard County Future Farmer was Bailey Thomas, 8, from Woodbine.

Winners of the various livestock and home arts contests in the open and 4-H categories follow. They were provided to the paper by the Howard County Fair Association Inc.

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