XENIA — The look on Markus Holcomb’s face said it all.
Shock.
Confusion.
Bewilderment.
Disbelief.
The Xenia resident, a first-year 4-H member, had just won grand champion of the pygmy goat show at the Greene County Fair Thursday.
“I did not know what to do,” the Creative Christian Clovers member said. “It’s just my first year.”
In reality he had already done plenty.
The Warner Middle School sixth grader managed to win for the first time while showing an animal, and he honored the memory of his father, who died in a car accident in 2016. Holcomb named his pygmy Terry, in memory of his dad, who helped coach some of his sports teams and was Holcomb’s biggest supporter.
That just added to the joy of a shocking grand championship.
“I was surprised at the first win,” Holcomb said. “Before (the show) I walked him and he wasn’t cooperating with me. I did not think we were going to win.”
He added it was “kinda scary” being in the ring.
So how much does this win mean?
“A lot,” Holcomb said, adding that his dad’s reaction would be, “That’s my son.”
Holcomb also had three chickens in the market poultry show.
— Sarah Bogan had the reserve grand champion pygmy, but that’s just as good as a win for the 2020 Xenia High School graduate.
“We went in there with absolutely no idea what was going on,” Bogan said. “I didn’t know what to look for in a pygmy goat.”
After showing mainly chickens and rabbits, the Noah’s Ark 4-H member decided to give goats a try just for the heck of it.
And what was the experience like?
“It was a lot of fun,” she said. “I think more people should come out and (show) pygmy goats. They’re really loveable.”
Bogan also had the best commercial doe and litter in the rabbit show.
She plans to attend Miami University and study speech pathology and audiology.