By Deanna Brown
Sat, May 17 2008
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The long-awaited 50th anniversary of the Navarro County Youth Exposition will kick off Monday. As the people gather at the Navarro County Exposition Center, no doubt there will be some discussion about the origins of this event in Navarro County.
Building character, teaching responsibility, and training kids for the future has been the goal of the NCYE for the last 50 years, and this will be no different.
Hundreds of kids have groomed animals, sewed a quilt, baked a pie, and battled a case of nerves waiting to show their goat or pig or heifer. As well, hundreds of generous volunteers have devoted countless hours, sweat and labor to pull this production off each year — and make no mistake, it is a production. Businesses have supported it by purchasing animals and projects at the auction, and many, many Navarro County kids have supplemented college funds with their earnings from the sale.
“That Youth Expo is the result of a lot of peoples’ efforts — people giving in many different ways, some with time, some with money,” said Dr. Ray Dean Carroll, long-time supporter. “That is something I’ve enjoyed the most through the 50 years — the cooperative effort of everyone.”
Before there was a Navarro County Youth Exposition, there was the Corsicana Livestock and Agricultural Show, which was held from the 1930s until 1957. Adults and children from all over the United States attended this event, which was held at the old fairgrounds on East Highway 31, and resembled a mini state fair.
The first NCYE was held in a tent on the site of the original Corsicana Livestock and Agriculture Show. It was the brain-child of James Cummins, who was the Corsicana High School vocational agriculture instructor at the time. The first NCYE was held March 13-14, 1959, and included beef cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, hogs and poultry divisions. There was also a dress revue, arts and crafts division, talent show and a queen’s contest.
The permanent site for the NCYE was selected in 1970, when 4.5 acres on Farm-to-Market Road 744 was purchased. Fannie Mae Vernon, who served as chairman of the non-ag divisions for 40 years, was honored with a building named in her honor.
The expo was held in a tent and portable buildings on the new property from 1972 until 1975. The farm mechanics division was added in 1974, broilers and dairy division in 1975, and the rabbit division in 1978. Livestock and land judging were reinstituted in 1973. Carroll recalls how the “face” of the auction changed in 1974, when his son Jim won grand champion with his half-Brahman steer. Sales were held at alternating sale barns prior to the building of the Exposition Center. The late Corsicana Daily Sun publisher, Art Keeney, stood up and said, “Folks, if we’re ever going to get this youth fair off the ground, we’re going to have to open our hearts and our pocketbooks.” With that, he bid $1,000 for Jim Carroll’s steer.
“That one act changed the entire face of the auction, and was a giant step toward putting it where it is today,” Dr. Ray Carroll said. “It was the seed that started it all.”
This “seed” started the ball rolling with the first premium sale in 1975 grossing $31,309. In 1976, an indoor arena, the first sale dinner, and Marvin Speer’s first term as auctioneer were the highlights.
Carroll recalls the steak dinner beginning as a cookout, back in 1978 or 1979, at a temporary location when he suggested there be a barbecue. He and Jimmy Hooser donated a steer each, and barbecue was cooked in a pit and served with all the trimmings. Years later, it evolved into the steak dinner, with folks from all walks of life and many economic levels pitching in to help cook steaks.
“People giving is the epitome of the whole thing, and I don’t think that’s been accentuated enough through the years,” he said. “All those people who gave all that time and effort — there is no one person to thank or name, because it was always a group effort.
“They looked forward to cooking those steaks, and it took about 35 or 40 people. You can’t believe how great the camaraderie was! We made kind of a club out of the deal.”
Each new animal division that was brought in through the years was “controversial,” but only because it was new, said Carroll. This year the newbies will be the llama competition, which should prove to be very entertaining, with llamas in costumes, and llamas completing an obstacle course.
“Think about it,” he said. “The kid gets 10 or 15 minutes of show time in a ring after a whole year of work raising the animal. It is actually not the animal being shown, it’s the kid. The dollars are not spent for the animal, they’re spent for the kid.”
Carroll said he’s heard grumbling through the years about kids who don’t “do all the work” for their animal, but instead, the parents help out. To that he responds, “Hallelujah!” because in his opinion, one of the most beautiful parts of the Navarro County Youth Exposition is families working together for a common goal.
The premium sale in 2007 reached a milestone when it grossed $300,000, and probably few will be surprised if the total gross exceeds that number for 2008, the 50th anniversary year.
“With the tight community we have here, and the giving hearts,” Carroll said. “The Youth Expo won’t do anything but get bigger and better. That’s what has happened every year up to now.”
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
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