MANSFIELD, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—After nearly three hours of competition, the 2025 Richland County Fair Showman of Showmen was crowned.

The contest brings together top showmanship winners from each species to compete for the overall title.

This year’s winner?

Kennedy Studer, who was the runner-up in the competition last year.

Studer, a recent graduate of Shelby High School, will be attending Lakeland Community College this fall to major in animal science.

She shows market hogs with Shelby FFA and market broilers through the Ganges Happy Hearts 4-H Club.

Despite competing as the swine representative, Studer’s favorite to show was actually the lambs.

“Honestly, I’d like to say pigs, but I always love venturing out and trying something new. I want to say the lambs are my favorite. I had a lamb that braced really well for me and didn’t move, so it made my life a little easier,” Studer said.

Her least favorite to show was the dairy goats, which tried to jump on her every time she attempted to brace it. Still, she said the overall experience was great and that everything she gets to do is a blessing.

Winning showmanship is no easy feat, and Studer’s advice to others looking to do well is to always remember where you started.

“I started showing roughly six years ago in a little chicken coop and had no showmanship advice or anything. I learned everything on my own, and now I’m competing at national and state levels, jackpots, and I’m consistently running and winning with that,” Studer explained. “There are a lot of times that I see kids struggling, and I’ll go out of my way. Just don’t ever be afraid to ask questions. Everybody is learning, everybody is a family. Just always remember where you started with everything.”

Studer thanked her parents, Jeff and Diana Studer, and Jenny and Scott Corbus for always supporting her and showing up for her.

“It means the world to me, and soaking up my last year here and seeing everybody, this was just the icing on the cake for me. I just want to say thank you to all of my friends and family,” she said.

This year’s second-place winner, Cailey Fairchild, is also a recent graduate of Shelby High School and will be attending Wilmington College this fall to study agricultural business.

Fairchild is a member of the Bibs and Boots 4-H Club and Shelby FFA, and she showed market hogs, exhibition poultry, broilers, and turkeys at the fair.

Outside of poultry, which she represented in the contest, her favorite animals to show were cattle and sheep. She said the cattle were fun, and she had shown sheep when she was younger.

Her least favorite thing to show on the day was the rabbits, noting that there was hair everywhere, and her rabbit didn’t want to stay flipped.

Her showmanship advice was to never be afraid to look stupid.

“When you get in there and you have to do the game face, or at least for the bigger animals, you feel like you look like an idiot, but you don’t–you’re doing what you are supposed to be doing,” Fairchild said. “And please ask if you don’t know. I have a whole slew of little kids that I help with poultry. Someone is always willing to answer, and if the person tells you, ‘No, I am not answering,’ then clearly that’s not the person to be asking because that’s not a real showman. All of us were back there talking before we got into each other’s species—we don’t care if we give you something to win, and I don’t. Showmanship at its core is being a good person, being a good showman, and not being selfish.”

Fairchild thanked her parents and other supporters for their encouragement throughout her 4-H career.

“If I wanted to show an animal, they let me. We had never shown poultry before me, and I like chickens, so they were like, ‘Okay, we’re getting your chickens.’ But honestly, all the people who helped me get to where I am—there are so many people who, when I was eight years old, helped me and talked me through what I was doing, and were that teenager that I thought was the coolest person in the world, that I could look to, because they gave me the time of day. So, just all the people who stop for a minute to care about me and to help me be able to do a contest like this.”

As their final year at the Richland County Fair concludes, Studer and Fairchild leave behind a record of consistent performance and leadership in the show ring. Their experience and willingness to support younger exhibitors reflect the values promoted by 4-H and FFA. With both now looking ahead to future opportunities, their contributions remain part of the fair’s ongoing tradition of excellence.

 

Showman of Showmen representatives 

Goat – Megan Adkins

Rabbit – Emma Blanton

Horse – Jordan Tedrow

Sheep – Reece Cook

Hog – Kennedy Studer

Beef – Payton Stover

Poultry  – Cailey Fairchild