ROME TOWNSHIP— The fair brings with it all kinds of expectations each year. For those eight days, 4-H club winners hold hopes of winning trophies and savoring the few moments of glory that come with taking home that prize they’ve worked so hard to attain.

For others, the fair brings a chance to chat with neighbors over an ice cream cone. Then for some, the fair brings something that eludes most of us: the thrill of romance and even marriage. The thrill of meeting that significant other.

For J.D. and Sara Taylor Gore of Kitts Hill, the fair was where their friendship grew into something special. Something permanent. They married June 10 and after a honeymoon in Hawaii, spent Monday in that most familiar place.

Sara explained that the couple actually met a few years ago shortly before the fair. But they got to know each other as they hung out in the livestock barn and the campgrounds.

“We started going out after the fair was over with,” J.D. explained.

Sound unusual? Not to them. Both said they had known others who have met their future mates at the fair. Both 24-year-old J.D. and 21-year-old Sara were 4-H club kids who came from families actively involved in 4-H.

“Spending a week each year at the fair, you know you already have something in common,” J.D. said.

The idea of romance has enticed other young women, apparently, to consider love among the carnival rides, livestock and 4-H exhibits.

“I have a friend who said she wants to meet somebody here,” Sara said.

Work will keep the newlyweds away from the fair part of the week. He works at Ohio River Valley Youth Correctional Facility and she is interning at the King’s Daughters Medical Center Human Resources Department. But in their free time, they’ll met up with friends and family and stroll in fairgrounds again.

“We’ll still get to spend some time here,” he said.