“The Great Indiana State Fair” is how our state fair is known by many all over Indiana. I never quite realized its greatness until now. I always thought the state fair was just people and overpriced food until I spent a month there with the Indiana FFA.

Hello, I am Tobias Sturgell. This year I have the privilege to serve as the Indiana FFA state secretary. I come from Trafalgar, Ind., where we also live as state officers for a year doing a variety of things.

One of our largest tasks is setting up and working at the Corteva Agriscience Indiana FFA Pavilion during the state fair. Preparation starts in mid-July with a retreat in Indianapolis to plan displays. Each state officer takes charge of plans for a specific area of the pavilion.

We missed a week before the Indiana State Fair attending the National FFA State Officer Summit in Washington, D.C. We left the work in capable hands of FFA members from around Indiana. When we got back, we jumped right into the swing of things.

Those workdays were tough, and we traveled from the Indiana FFA Leadership Center in Trafalgar to the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis every day. It was nice to have members coming from all over Indiana to help, but it was also challenging. Members wanted to work, but it’s hard to work without motivation. So, with me being a huge fan of music, I would first determine music tastes of the chapters that day, and then play tunes to help us work faster and more efficiently.

We finally finished the Indiana FFA Pavilion and were ready for opening day of the Great Indiana State Fair. While there, we stayed in dorms in Discovery Hall. When the fair was open to the public, our days were busy watering plants, getting ready for the day, cleaning and setting up, greeting FFA members arriving to help and interacting with fairgoers. After closing the pavilion, we rested so we could do it all over again the next day.

Farm flavor

One of my favorite parts daily was our Featured Farmer visit with Corteva Agriscience. Featured farmers filled a craving since I didn’t grow up on a farm. I live with my grandparents on 80 acres, with 35 acres rented for growing corn and soybeans.

I enjoyed simply listening to how each person’s farm operates. With such diversity in agriculture, from vertical farming to animal production to floriculture, these Featured Farmers gave me such pride for Indiana.

Looking back, the Indiana State Fair could be very tiresome at times, but things are only what you make it. If you expected it was going to be bad, it would be. But if I was looking forward to that day, it went well.

I was able to get closer with my teammates and sparked a relationship with members that continues to this day. I was able to educate the public about what FFA truly is.

This experience set a really strong foundation for the rest of my state officer year. I am eternally grateful to have had the state fair experience as part of my life. This is what made the Great Indiana State Fair great for me.

Sturgell is the 2022-23 Indiana FFA secretary. He writes from Trafalgar, Ind.