Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette Aleah Simpson showcases her Boer Goat, Lulu, during the Houghton County Fair’s Goat Show.

HANCOCK — The 73rd Houghton County Fair began Thursday with food vendors, shops, rides and games all becoming available to fairgoers.

As the fair first opened and the rides and games were still being readied, the attendees could visit the mobile zoo where goats and sheep were present for feeding and petting, and a few exotic animals were there for people to see. Some of the animals of interest at the mobile zoo included African servals, fennec foxes, black-tailed prairie dogs, Russian tortoises, Sulcata tortoises, pythons and an alligator.

Inside the indoor arena at the fair is the Butterfly Encounter which has a netted tent area in which attendees can feed and observe live butterflies as they fly in the enclosure. Fairgoers have to be careful to not step on any butterflies, though some will likely land on their clothing after the butterflies enjoy being fed fruit punch with a sponge.

Once the rides and games were fully underway, the animal shows had commenced. In the Youth Poultry Show, Grace Hupp won with her male and female chickens for the Best of Show, and Tammi Monette won the Open Poultry Show’s Best of Show. In the Youth Rabbit Show, Dawson Saari won the Best of Show and the winner of the Open Rabbit Show was Mark Jarvi.

After a couple of hours the Sheep and Goat Shows commenced. The shows rewarded the contestants in two categories consisting of the body composition of the animal, the market class, and the display of the animal, showmanship. The Market Class Sheep Grand Champion was Jade Hupp and the Reserve Champion was Alena Pietila. The Champion of Showmanship for Sheep was rewarded to Jesy Hupp. The Goat Show Showmanship and Grand Champion for a female goat was Aleah Simpson with her Boer Goat, Lulu. The Reserve Champion for a female goat was Addilyn Paarala.

The championship came as a relief to Simpson since the 8 1/2-month-old Lulu was not originally the intended goat for the show.

“We didn’t think we’d be showing her and then our planned goat had a feed fiasco so she (Lulu) became our show goat and we decided to just go for it,” Simpson said. “And I’m sure glad we did.”

Simpson trained the goat for about three months and spent the past few days getting Lulu ready for the show by bathing her and trimming her hooves. During the show Simpson was concerned that she would have to brace her goat, but Lulu stayed well behaved for her and the judge. With Lulu’s debut performance winning two awards, Simpson has expressed that the goat will be returning to the fair next year.