It’s fair week in Monticello

   If you’re reading this column and this issue of The Monticello Express on Tuesday, the Great Jones County Fair has been on now for three days.

   You see, our coverage of the fair started on Sunday, July 16, with the Open Horse Show.

   Our coverage continued on Monday with the Cowgirl Queen Contest and the announcement of the Jones County Beef Producers Ambassadors.

   Again, if it’s Tuesday as you’re reading the paper, Pete Temple has been busy covering the Dog Show throughout the day. My Tuesday coverage will begin in the evening with the GJCF Queen Coronation.

   If you’re reading this and it’s Wednesday, well, this is our long day at the fair… Sheep, goats, bucket/bottles, pets, and dairy shows. It’s busy and we have all hands on deck with three members of the Express team covering it all!

   If you’re reading this week’s paper and it’s after Wednesday, it’s been a long, hot week at the fair. I look forward to my late afternoons and evenings after the 4-H/FFA livestock shows when I can sit directly in front of a giant fan in the craft beer tent and enjoy an ice-cold delicious Iowa-made beverage. (I mean, that’s what they’re there for!)

   Kudos to the GJCF for offering this new beverage tent directly up the hill from the livestock barns! It’s as if the fair knew the Express team needed to cool down after a long day of showcasing hard-working 4-H and FFA youth.

   Every year, I say I’m not ready or mentally prepared to cover the fair, yet every year we successfully pull it off. It takes a lot of hours, a lot of manpower, and cooperation with our awesome 4-H, Extension, and GJCF staff and volunteers. This year is no exception.

   So if you see myself, Pete Temple, or Rae Ann Manternach around the fairgrounds this week, we could use a cold drink! (I’m talking about water, folks!)

   On a completely different topic, several weeks ago I was digging through some really old issues of the Express, back to 1938. I came across an article from June of that year that talking about families and friends writing to their men serving overseas…

   “The Office of War Information offers these pointers for home folks writing to soldiers, sailors, and marines…”

   World War II wasn’t actually declared until September 1939, but men in all branches of the military were stationed all over the world.

   Here is the list of things to share:

   • How your family is doing everything possible to help in the war effort.

   • How anxious the family is for his return home.

   • How well and busy your family is.

   • How your family is getting along financially.

   • What’s going on in the community.

   I found these specifics regarding one’s community rather humorous. For instance, tell your soldier about the single girls he might know, what his friends are up to, who’s gotten married to whom, exploits of his hometown, sports events, social doings, effects the war is having on his hometown.

   Families were encouraged to include clippings from his hometown newspaper.

   Here is the list of things not to share:

   • Your troubles. He has troubles of his own.

   • Your complaints. He can’t do anything about them.

   • About things you’re deprived of. He can’t supply them.

   • Doleful predictions about the future. He’s fighting for that future now.

   • Unnecessary details about your financial troubles.