Online opportunities designed to keep public engaged

TIMONIUM, Md. — The Maryland State Fair may be canceled, but there are still opportunities for engagement and agriculture education.
“The fair’s mission is to educate the general public about agriculture,” said Edie Bernier, the fair’s director of publicity and community relations. “This will still provide the opportunity to meet our mission.”
Many parts of the annual state fair will be accessible online, including the Miss Maryland Agriculture Contest at 7 p.m. on Aug. 27, the youth livestock auction on Aug. 31 beginning at 7 p.m., and some of the livestock shows. Links to the viewing or bidding platforms will be posted on the fair’s website, marylandstatefair.com and through its social media, fair staff said.
A series of virtual escape rooms will be released online beginning Aug. 31. Based around the common fair themes of animals, carnival, horse racing, indoor exhibits and fair food, escape room participants will be challenged to seek out information in the virtual rooms that help them solve four locks to get out, said Bobby Fogle, the fair’s director of agricultural programs.
Fogle said those who successfully escape each of the rooms will be entered into a prize drawing.
Also under a virtual format, the American Dairy Association North East’s third annual Undeniably Dairy Shake-Off milkshake contest is set for Friday, Sept. 4, at 2 p.m. Teams from Baltimore-area media channels — WMAR ABC 2, WJZ CBS 13, 100.7 The Bay and 95.1 ShineFM — have submitted videos about their recipes and “teasers” of each recipe will be posted beginning on Aug. 28 through the association’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/AmericanDairyNE. From Sept. 1-3, the full videos will be available and the public is encouraged to try the recipes at home and vote for a People’s Choice winner.
“It’s neat to see the teams support the fair in a fun way and get to do something a little different,” said Amy Yeiser Leslie, the association’s director of industry relations. “It’s getting some traction within the media community but also getting out to the larger community and helping us promote the dairy shows and the hard work our dairy farmers do everyday.”
On Sept. 4, association staff will make each of the media team’s recipe for the three-judge panel of Maryland Dairy Princess Ellie Feaga, Maryland State Fair President Donna Myers and Maryland Farm Bureau’s Parker Welch to judge the overall winner
“When you think of summer, ice cream is the cherry on top, so to speak,” Leslie said. “This is a different kind of way the public can get involved.”