SUMMIT STATION - Tuesday was "Kids Day" at the 30th annual Schuylkill County Fair.
The day featured various contests, activities and entertainment geared toward the youth. Gates opened at 11 a.m., while rides and building exhibitions opened at 1 p.m.
"It's been a great day," Paul Kennedy, fair president, said Tuesday afternoon.
Kennedy said the whole week at the fair is about education in agritourism, but Tuesday featured special events designed for the school groups, summer camps and families with children in attendance.
"There are a lot of different activities this year specifically for Kids Day," Kennedy said.
Children's contests began at noon and included Jell-O, ice cream and pie eating and milk chugging. There was also corn husking, a watermelon roll, water balloon toss, a pedal tractor pull and a children's cooking contest.
Kennedy said the fair has 31 food vendors offering more than 150 different food products, 150 livestock animals and more than 200 dairy animals.
Kelli Childs, Schuylkill Haven, and Kim Barry, Pine Grove, brought their 5-year-old sons to the fair Tuesday for Kids' Day.
"He likes to see the animals and the rides," Childs said.
Her son, Quentin, was a participant in the Jell-O eating contest.
"My son likes watching the tractor pull," Barry said.
The "Farming for a Day" tent was also popular among the children Tuesday.
"They kids have fun," Susan Dunn said Tuesday. "It's a popular tent because they can learn a lot of different things."
The tent is sponsored by the Dunn family in memory of Bobby Dunn, who was killed in a car accident while driving home from the fair in 2009. Bobby was Susan's nephew.
"He loved kids and we do this to keep his memory alive," Dunn said. "It's all for the kids."
Some of the returning favorites at the tent included seven baby ducks and a fake cow used to simulate milking. New this year was a demonstration on how to make butter and a live butterfly exhibit.
"Maybe most people don't think of butterflies as playing a role on the farm but they are actually very important because they help pollinate," Dunn said.
The Blue Mountain Recreational Commission's Little Eagles Day Camp was one of the larger student groups at the fair Tuesday. The students range from kindergartners to seventh- graders.
"We come here every year because it's always a blast," Amanda Yashinsky, group supervisor, said. "It keeps them busy and it's a reasonable price. The parents don't mind spending a little to send their kids to the fair for the whole day."
Morgan Miller, 8, of Auburn, was one of the students with the group.
"I liked seeing the animals and I like to go on the rides," she said.
Aliyah Peckman, 8, of Orwigsburg, said she likes watching the tractor pull.
"My favorite kind of truck is a Dodge," Peckman said.
Peckman also liked the ducks at Dunn's tent.
"They're cute and slide down the slide," Peckman said.
The Tuscarora R/C Club was also at the fair Tuesday to display their model planes and the Schuylkill County Sheriff's Office was taking fingerprints to enter children into the I.D. Me child identification program.
There was a presentation by Folk's Butterfly Farm later that afternoon and a cooking competition between the county wineries in the evening.
The 4-H, FFA Alpaca and llama and sheep show was at 3 p.m. and the horse show, sponsored by the Schuylkill County 4-H horse clubs, was at 6 p.m. There was also live musical performances by country band Laredo at 7 and 9 p.m.
For more information or a schedule of events, visit www.schuylkillfair.com. Live updates are also available on the Schuylkill County Fair's Facebook page.