Fair sees big turnout for race of inflatable costumed characters

Photos by Tom Rivers

KNOWLESVILLE – The Orleans County 4-H Fair has added new events and challenges, and a race among inflatable costumed characters proved a big hit on Thursday night.

There were 17 characters in the first race with adults and older teens.

Rachel Livingston of Albion, who was dressed as a French Bulldog, was the first to dash across the horse arena.

The youth division was won by Isabella Tompkins, 6, of Olcott who wore an axolotl costume. Three adults joined her so she wasn’t by herself. One of those was her grandmother, Michelle Tompkins of Lockport, a former Medina resident. She raced as dairy cow.

Michelle Tompkins was speedy in the inflatable cow costume.

The participants make their way to the west side of the horse arena. They all brought their own costumes, and there was quite a variety of characters.

Peggy-Jo Gabalski lines up the characters and urges they to spread out by arm’s length.

These characters enjoy some pre-race banter before their sprint. There were people lined up around the fence at the horse arena.