PROCTORVILLE — OK, so they weren’t real cow patties and the “calf-roping” contest was done on a plastic bouncing horse, but the Barn Olympics brought out some serious competitors Tuesday afternoon at the Lawrence County Fair.

Youngsters in 4-H who had livestock projects were invited to participate in the event, which featured a cookie-eating contest, hay-stacking competition, a cow-patty throwing contest, a tug of war and a roping event. Finals will be today to crown champions in each category.

This is the second year for the event, which is meant as a way to give the 4-Hers something fun to do in the downtime around the barns.

“It’s something fun that the kids can come and do while they are waiting for other events,” said Laura Jane Murphy, county 4-H agent.

She said all the kids enjoyed it last year and so organizers decided to make it bigger and better during this year’s fair.

One of the participants said she thought the Barn Olympics was a great opportunity to get together with friends a take a break during the sometimes hectic and tiring fair.

“It was a lot better this year. It was more organized and everybody was given an equal chance. Last year, it was the boys against the girls and I didn’t think that was too fair,” said Ironton resident Kelsey Huddle smiling.

Huddle is a member of the Barn Busters 4-H group and is showing lambs this year at the fair. She will be competing in the finals of the calf-roping today contest today. Her performances in the other

“I didn’t do so good in the others,” she said with a laugh. “The worst was the hay stacking, me and my partner fell. It was pretty bad.”

Kayla Corter, a member of the Silver Spurs 4-H group, decided to sit out the Olympics and opted to help out instead. She kept track of the results in the cow-patty throwing contest. The “patties” were actually made of colored tape, she said, which made the event a lot less messy and smelly than if the real thing was used.

“It was pretty amusing,” she said. “I think it was a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed it.”