Photo courtesy of Michael Karcz

KNOWLESVILLE – Michael Karcz shared this photo with Orleans Hub taken of the fireworks Friday night at the Orleans County 4-H Fair.

Karcz, 18, just graduated from Albion in June. He has been experimenting with photography. This photo actually represents several different images.

“The firework shots were taken individually, and the shot of the fair was taken after the fireworks,” Karcz said in an email. “I needed a higher vantage point, and the only place I could think of was on top of my van, so I climbed up and shot away. That’s the fun of photography.”

Karcz said he wants to continue to practice and hone his craft.

Photos by Tom Rivers – Tyana Burroughs, 8, of Kendall soars into the sky at one of the fair rides.

The fair included a staple of forbidden foods, such as candy apples …

… and taffy.

KNOWLESVILLE – The Orleans County 4-H Fair completed its six-day run of fun on Saturday. Fair officials were pleased with the crowds, the great weather, and the quality of the rides, food vendors and 4-H exhibits.

Nevada, 5, of Barker enjoys a ride on the Merry Go Round.

Three generations of the Steier family in Albion enjoy I Got It at the fair. The group includes Karen, her mother Gail and Karen’s daughter Clarissa.

Fair officials praised Midway Rides of Utica for the quality of the rides and their cleanliness.

Alex Graff, a Medina native who now lives in Rochester, may be covered in grease, but he is having a great time during the grease pole championships on Saturday to cap off the Orleans County 4-H Fair. Steven Papponetti is trying to climb of Graff’s shoulders. Graff and Papponetti are members of the Rough N Ready team. They weren’t able to reach the top of the pole on Saturday. They won on Wednesday to advance to the finals.

The Grease Grapplers once again won the grease pole championship, ascending the slippery telephone pole in 23.3 seconds. Andy Follman is on the bottom in this picture with Jesse Follman on his shoulders. Tyler Palmer, in black shirt, makes a move to climb to the top. Those three are all from Lyndonville. Five Guys and a Pole, a team new to the competition, came in second by climbing the pole in 30 seconds.

The Grease Partiers are close to climbing the slathered pole. Matthew Parker is on the bottom with Patrick Sewar on top. Tyler Thomas, middle, gets ready to climb on Sewar’s back. The three are all from Medina.

Tyler Thomas of Medina is thrilled to reach the top of the grease pole for the Grease Partiers.

The team called Merica works together to climb the grease pole. Nick Schroeder is in the yellow shirt and Dustin Wells is wearing the white shirt with red pants. They’re both from Medina.

Barry Flansburg has served as emcee of the grease pole climb each night for many fairs. A big crowd watched the finals on Saturday. State Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R-Batavia, and State Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, both attended the event and addressed the crowd.

KNOWLESVILLE – If you missed Gretta Smith’s winning performance at the Orleans County 4-H Fair Karaoke Challenge Finals on Thursday, you can watch it here.

Gretta’s performance earned her the $500 first-place award for her rendition of “You’re Going To Miss Me When I’m Gone (Cup Song)” by Anna Kendrick.

Gretta’s mother, Shelly Smith, provided the video.

Albion girl takes crown with the ‘Cup Song’

Photos by Tom Rivers – Rich Nolan of Medina, the defending champion of the Orleans County karaoke contest, sings “How I Got To Be This Way” during the karaoke finals on Thursday. Nolan finished second overall.

Jessica Reigle of Albion, another past champion, sings “Forget You,” which earned her a fourth place finish overall in this year’s competition.

KNOWLESVILLE – She almost didn’t enter the competition, but Gretta Smith agreed to give karaoke a try on Monday after some coaxing from her friends and family.

The 17-year-old did well enough Monday to advance to the finals on Thursday. She left with first prize, a trophy and $500.

Smith sang “You’re Going To Miss Me When I’m Gone (Cup Song)” by Anna Kendrick. Smith sang it a capella, and performed the cup and table tapping routine made famous by Kendrick. Smith impressed her friends and teachers with the song when she did it at an Albion talent show.

On Monday at the fair, she almost didn’t sign up for karaoke.

“We begged her to do it,” said her mother Shelly Smith.

Her daughter has tended to shun solo performances. But she isn’t a stranger to the stage, performing with groups in dance, chorus and musicals.

She just graduated from Albion and will be attending Monroe Community College in the fall as an undecided major.

She won an entertaining karaoke competition, edging last year’s winner, 22-year-old Rich Nolan of Medina. Nolan works as an assistant manager at Tops in Medina on the night shift. Smith also works at the Tops in Albion as a cashier.

Nolan gave a high-energy performance of “How I Got To Be This Way” by Justin Moore. Nolan was back and forth on the stage and his voice filled the fairgrounds. He would like to join a band and perform more in public.

“I just enjoy singing and seeing people’s reactions,” he said.

M & T Bank put up $1,000 in prize money that was shared by the top five performers. Other award winners include Taylor Whittier in third place with “Highway To Hell,” Jessica Reigle in fourth with “Forget You,” and Lydia Piazza in fifth with “Red High Heels.”

Bob Lash sings “Boys Round Here” during the karaoke finals.

Olivia Redick of Kendall performs “Bless This Broken Road” during karaoke on Thursday.

Photos by Tom Rivers

Tonight is the pie-eating contest at the Orleans County 4-H Fair, and it has proven to be a glorious messy affair. Nick Wright, 11, of Holley is all smiles after plunging face first into a raspberry pie.

Tamara Stratton, 11, of Kendall devours an apple pie. She is seated between John Gabalski, 12, of Byron at left and Nick Wright, 11, of Holley.

The pie-eating contest draws a big crowd to the Curtis Pavilion. Brown’s Berry Patch of Waterport donates the pies for the event.

James Trembley, 6, of Barre has some peach pie chunks on his face after his joyful turn in the pie-eating contest.

Photos by Tom Rivers

The Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds in Knowlesville basked in fireworks tonight on a busy day with a big crowd at the fair.

The week-long event has enjoyed good weather, which produced another fine sunset this evening.

Photos by Tom Rivers

KNOWLESVILLE – Jim DiMatteo of Middleport shines his 1976 Trans Am just before the Classic Car Cruise In tonight at the Orleans County 4-H Fair. There were more than 50 classic cars parked at the beginning of the cruise-in.

Saturday evening the lot next to the Buzz Hill Education Center will be filled with fire trucks and emergency response vehicles from throughout the county.

The Albion Masonic Lodge is serving a fish fry dinner at the Curtis Pavilion tonight. Some of the volunteers include, from left: Paul Henry, Dave Andrews and Allen Lackey. The lodge served 340 dinners last year at the fair.

KNOWLESVILLE – The Orleans County 4-H Fair is batting 1.000 in the sunset department with three stunning sunsets the first three days of the fair.

Here’s how it looked on Wednesday night.

Photo by Tom Rivers

Photos by Tom Rivers – The Grease Partiers made it to the top of a slathered telephone pole. Part of the team includes, from left: Raymond Austin of Knowlesville, Summer Prentice of Oakfield, Patrick Sewar of Knowlesville and John Ireland of Brockport.

Patrick Sewar, a member of the Grease Partiers, is the top man during a grease pole climb Wednesday night at the Orleans County 4-H Fair. Several hundred people turn out to watch the competition each night at 10 p.m.

KNOWLESVILLE It caps off most nights at the fair, drawing hundreds of people gathered around a telephone pole.

The grease pole competition is a proven crowd pleaser, who cheer and laugh as the competitors desperately try to climb the top of grease-slathered pole. It’s not easy for the teams, which need to stack four or five climbers, a tower of people standing one on top of the other.

It’s hard to do with a slick pole.

The Rough N Ready team debuted at the 2011 fair and they’ve gotten better. Last year it took them 48 seconds to get to the top. They did it in 30 seconds on Wednesday.

They practiced on a dry pole before the competition. Team captain Nic Elliott believes the team can lower its time at Saturday’s finals. The fastest team each night advances to championship on Saturday at 10 p.m. The winning team usually has a time around 20 seconds.

John Ireland of Brockport has the top position while Josh Avila of Clarendon, lower left, gets ready to climb.

Elliott and his Rough N Ready mates will talk strategy and look for ways to trim seconds off the climb. The group ranges in age from 18 to 23. Many of them are firefighters and self-described “good ole’ boys.”

Steven Papponetti, 20, of Albion left with several splinters in his hands after the climb. He was the high climber, the one who reached the top. Papponetti said he has improved from last year.

“It’s a lot of trial and error,” he said.

He puts his hands on the shoulder of each teammate on the tower, then puts his feet on their hips, and then his feet to their shoulders, before ascending another person.

Veteran climbers learn to tightly duct tape their waists so teammates have sturdy support on what can be a slippery experience.

Alex Graff of Rochester hangs on tight on top while Josh Avila of Clarendon provides steady support below.

Rough N Ready won on Wednesday, but another team impressed the crowd. The Grease Partiers took about five minutes to get to the top. They didn’t have duct tape and the team didn’t have experience with the competition. They struggled, and Rough N Ready members helped them get to the top.

The Partiers had grease all over their clothes, arms and ears.

John Ireland, 32, of Brockport was talked into giving it a try. He and his teammates were euphoric when it was over.

“It was a blast,” he said.

The team can try again later this week to try to qualify for the finals.

The Rough N Ready team huddles before the competition, the last event of day at the fair.