INSIDE THIS ISSUE Classifieds............................................................ A4 Community Calendar .................................B12-15 Discover Roanoke...........................................B2-3 Healthy Times ................................................... A10 Planning Your Summer ................................. A7-8
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Serving Southwest Allen County & Roanoke
July 4, 2014
Fair strives for affordable, family fun
TV chef to headline local ‘Cooking Blind’ fundraiser
By Garth Snow
By Garth Snow
gsnow@kpcmedia.com
gsnow@kpcmedia.com
Popular attractions from years past will return for the 2014 Allen County Fair, which runs July 22-27. Fireworks will be set off at dusk on opening night Tuesday. A parade will wind through the fairgrounds at 7 p.m. that same evening. “And another thing that used to be a fan favorite that we haven’t had in a few years is the donkey race. It’s very comical,” said Michelle Love, the Fairgrounds Board secretary, who also directs the fair queen pageant and updates the schedule on the website. Fairgrounds Board President and fair co-chairman Jerry Hammond agreed that the donkey races have been missing too long. “It’s been years,” Hammond said. But the races will return at 8 p.m. Thursday, as will a popular addition to the 2013 fair. Hot-air balloons will lift off from near
Celebrity chef Christine Ha will help judge the efforts of four local home chefs during a benefit for The League for the Blind & Disabled. Ha, the winner of Fox network’s “MasterChef” Season 3, will preside over “Cooking Blind with Master Chef Christine Ha” starting at noon Sunday, Sept. 7, at IPFW. Tickets are on sale for $45. Visit ipfw.edu/tickets or call 481-6555. Ha battled the clock and coped with her blindness during the televised contest in which judges sorted through 18 contestants between the third episode and the 20th episode and season finale’ on Sept. 10, 2012. Fort Wayne home chef Natalie Eggeman was among the loyal audience. “So many of us watch these episodes and we kind of daydream about what it would be like to compete,” said Eggeman,
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Organizers say the Allen County Fair, July 22-27, will have more rides than last year.
the fairgrounds in the evening, and will return for a balloon glow about dusk. “That went over really well,” Hammond said. The fair board hopes for a repeat of another feature of the 2013 fair — the crowd. “Attendance was great last year. Of course
we had probably some of the best weather we’ve ever had,” Hammond said. “It was warm and sunny and nice, but it wasn’t 90 or a hundred. It was one of those picture perfect years, and it would be great if we could do that again. But you get what you get and you go with
Family helps young skiers build skills for competition By Garth Snow gsnow@kpcmedia.com
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Anya Elizondo, then an eighth-grader at Woodside Middle School, skis the Super G, which can reach speeds of 65 mph.
working toward other opportunities. “I think they both still have a long-term goal of making the U.S. Ski Team,” James said. The family realizes that “those are long shots,” in James’ words. Still, the effort continues. Both Anya and Aiden look forward to skiiing in college. “It’s a late maturing sport,” James said.
Older brother Emmett, who recently graduated from Homestead, coaches at Holiday Valley Resort in western New York state. Emmett also raced until he was about 13 or 14, his father said. Emmett plans to attend the University of Colorado. “He will just enjoy skiing from this time on,” See SKIIERS, Page A8
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Winter means skiing for the Elizondo family of Aboite Township. So does summer. Anya Elizondo, who just completed eighth grade at Woodside Middle School, is spending three weeks in Mount Hood, Oregon, at a summer camp led by Olympic Gold medalist Ted Ligety and Olympic Silver medalist Andrew Weibrecht. She also is working with World Cup technical coaches. Aiden Elizondo, who just completed his junior year at Homestead High School, is a counselor at the Ligety-Weibrecht ski camp. He is recovering from a knee injury, which required surgery. The children of James and Mary Ellen Elizondo have placed well in national and international competitions and are
it.” Hammond, who has been part of the fairgrounds board for about 20 years, said attendance had been hovering around the 25,000 mark for the past eight years. With last year’s Blue Ribbon See FAIR, Page A6
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Christine Ha won Fox’s “MasterChef” Season 3.
the League board member who suggested the local event and arranged for Ha’s visit. “She’s just a neat person, and there are some people you root for,” Eggeman said. “She was never a back-stabber. She seemed to care about the other competitors, but she also had the drive to win.” Ha has written a book and is busy with her own TV show and celebrity cooking events, but Eggeman said Ha embraced the Fort Wayne invitation. “She’s very See CHEF, Page A15