COLUMBUS — The Ohio State Fair Sale of Champions livestock auction broke eight records and brought in a grand total in sales of $547,500 on Aug. 6 in the WCOL Celeste Center.
More than $421,000 from the sale will be used to fund the Virgil L. Strickler Youth Reserve Program to continue supporting Ohio youth in agriculture and beyond.
Youth Reserve Program. Established in 1995, the Youth Reserve Program was developed to reward junior exhibitors participating in the Ohio State Fair. The program was renamed earlier this year in honor of retiring Ohio State Fair General Manager Virgil Strickler, who was instrumental in the creation and implementation of the program. This year, $421,500 from the sale will go to the program.
Each sale category has a cap as to what the winning exhibitor will actually receive. The rest of the money raised over that cap goes to the Youth Reserve Program, which benefits other exhibitors through scholarships and awards. To date, the Youth Reserve Program has collected $4.6 million, supporting 44,500 youth across the state.
The 2023 Sale of Champions sale total: $547,500
Grand Champion Market Beef
Exhibited by: Holden LeVan, Champaign County
Buyer: Mark and Megan Kvamme and Family
Price: $80,000
Cap: $25,000
Reserve Grand Champion Market Beef
Exhibited by: Beckett Winegardner, Allen County
Buyer: The Kroger Company and Ohio Farm Bureau Federation
Price: $37,500
Cap: $18,000
Grand Champion Market Barrow*
Exhibited by: Oksana Gossard, Allen County
Buyer: Giant Eagle and Sugardale Bacon
Price: $100,000
Cap: $13,000
Reserve Grand Champion Market Barrow
Exhibited by: Logan Deel, Gallia County
Buyer: Bob Evans, The Kroger Company, and Ohio Farm Bureau Federation
Price: $35,000
Cap: $9,000
Grand Champion Meat Chickens*
Exhibited by: Lilly Conrad, Hancock County
Buyer: The Kroger Company, Gerber Poultry and Ohio Harness Horseman’s Association
Price: $40,000
Cap: $7,000
Reserve Champion Meat Chickens*
Exhibited by: Natalie Fitzgerald, Cuyahoga County
Buyer: Meijer Inc.
Price: $33,000
Cap: $5,000
Grand Champion Market Lamb
Exhibited by: Bailee Amstutz, Union County
Buyer: Expo Services, Concessions by Cox, OKI, Inc, Schmidt’s Sausage Haus, NetSteady, and SP+
Price: $33,000
Cap: $13,000
Reserve Grand Champion Market Lamb*
Exhibited by: Avery Rice, Trumbull County
Buyer: Mark and Megan Kvamme and Family
Price: $31,000
Cap: $9,000
Grand Champion Market Goat*
Exhibited by: Braxton Method, Auglaize County
Buyer: Mark and Megan Kvamme and Family
Price: $32,000
Cap: $8,000
Reserve Grand Champion Market Goat*
Exhibited by: Ethan Davies, Wood County
Buyer: The Kroger Company, Tim and Glenda Huffman, Event Marketing Strategies, Faith Driving School and Talley Amusements
Price: $30,000
Cap: $4,000
Grand Champion Market Turkey*
Exhibited by: Maria Henderson, Logan County
Buyer: Mark and Megan Kvamme and Family and Bernie Moreno
Price: $45,000
Cap: $6,000
Grand Champion Swiss Cheese — representing the seven dairy champions and two supreme dairy showmen
Grand Champion Ayrshire: Carli Binckley, Columbiana County
Grand Champion Brown Swiss: Elaina Lahmers, Union County
Grand Champion Guernsey: Savannah Thomas, Champaign County
Grand Champion Holstein: Colton Thomas, Champaign County
Grand Champion Jersey: Olivia Finke, Madison County
Grand Champion Milking Shorthorn: Madison Hesler, Adams County
Grand Champion Red and White: Lilly Ann Elsass, Auglaize County
Supreme Showmen: Ruth Bambauer, Auglaize County; and Lillian Finke, Madison County
Purchased by: A.G. Boogher & Son, Inc., S&S Volvo and Turn-er Green
Price: $51,000
Cap: $9,000
*Denotes new record
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Sounds like a great program but seems unfair to the winners. They should raise the cap for the winners. The caps seem awful low. The winner should receive half of the prize money at a minimum. That’s much fairer in my opinion. Seems like they have taken the auction away from the winning kids and turned it into a fundraiser for the Ohio state fair charity. I can understand wanting a charity to help all the kids that participate but they are taking way too much from the winning kids.