Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette
Audience volunteer Grace Gardner, center, completes a sentence one word at a time with ComedySportz members Amy Westrup and Karah Minelli. The comedy improv group performed Friday and Saturday during the Houghton County Fair.

Johnny Cash, “The Lamb in Black,” nibbles on hay at the Houghton County Fair. The Grand Champion lamb, shown by Jesy Hupp, was bought by UP Health System. 

Hundreds of people watched cars compete in Friday’s Off-Road Derby at the Houghton County Fair. 

Some of Friday’s fairgoers enjoy Downdraft, one of the new rides brought in for this year’s Houghton County Fair. 

The four-day fair boasted rides, live performances, monster trucks, livestock, exhibits and more.

This was Jordan Holombo of Chassell’s second year of raising market hogs. She was busy writing a thank-you card to Michigan Technological University’s Dining Services, which purchased her hogs.

“It’s amazing the local companies that come out and support the local youth,” said her mother, Amber Holombo. “It’s amazing to see how much they put into these kids.”

Jordan said the biggest thing she’s learned from the experience is responsibility, and that pigs are “really smart animals.”

From May 1 to the fair, Jordan worked with her hogs, feeding them and training them with a whip to get them to go where she wanted, and getting them used to being touched. 

She plans to enter the fair again next year.

“I probably won’t do a hog, though,” she said. “I’ll probably do a sheep, just to try new things.”

Ann Hosie of L’Anse was admiring the exhibits in the exhibit hall. She’s too busy watching her grandkids to enter anything into the fair herself, but she admires the dedication. She liked the craft, such as the quilts and doilies, as well as the foods.

“To see people still canning, it’s just awesome,” she said. “And baking, the breads and stuff. Lost arts that people are still holding onto and keeping up with.”

Entertainment included the improv group ComedySportz, who performed Friday and Saturday. They enlisted audience members for many of their games. For one, the volunteer joined two members to play “Dr. Know-It-All,” where they responded to audience questions by answering one word at a time. 

For “What does sisu mean?,” the process yielded this: “Dictionaries say the word ‘sisu’ means to cry very much at movies and the smallest elephants.”

On the midway, crowds lined up for a shot at rides. Jadon Manchester had just gotten off the Downdraft, a new octopus-like ride that plunges people more than 30 feet without warning.  

“It is quite amazing, like the loud noise, and you suddenly drop down and you’re spinning,” he said. 

He also enjoyed another attraction, Alien Abduction, a spinning ride that pins people against the wall with centrifugal force. Shortly after the ride, he planned to see the off-road derby, which drew hundreds of people as cars maneuvered, collided and got spun around.

“I think it’s pretty awesome,” he said. “I’ve gone here for a couple of years, and it’s been getting better every year.”