For more than 30 years, Sheets has volunteered as hog superintendent for the annual fair.

Every year he can been seen weighing hogs, supervising the barn, and assisting with the hog show and livestock auction.

“It’s a fun thing I get to do,” he said.

He first became involved in the fair when his five children joined 4-H and started showing livestock in 1964.

Sheets, who was a hog salesman in the Kansas City stockyards for 38 years, decided to become hog superintendent shortly after his kids joined 4-H.

“The fair was my vacation,” he said. “I took a week off every year to help at the fair.”

Over the years, his duties as superintendent haven’t changed much.

“The first thing I do is assign pens to each club the Sunday before fair time,” he said.

Once the pens are assigned to county fair participants, the hogs start filling them on Monday.

“Monday night comes and we start weighing hogs in about 4:30 until 10 or so at night. Weighing can get pretty hectic at times,” Sheets said. “After that, we’ve got to get ready for the hog show the very next day.”

Sheets said the hog show is the first event that starts the fair and is his busiest day of the week.

“Show day is mad scramble because everybody wants to wash their pigs and get them ready,” he said.

Once he posts the show order in the barn, Sheets takes his place in the arena.

“I follow the judge around and keep track of each kid, their pig and the ribbon they received in the ring,” he said.

Not only does Sheets record the ribbons won, he also makes sure the drives, or group of hogs, are ready to be judged.

“The ring is split into two halves. One half is being judged while the other half is getting the next drive ready,” he said.

In order to keep the drives running smoothly, he said he has help from volunteers.

“Back in the barn, we’ve got parents and helpers to help get pigs in their drives and back into their pens,” he said. “We have real good cooperation from the parents and other people.”

When the show is over, Sheets said he’s able to relax a little.

“After the hog show, everything quiets down,” he said.

“Usually I just have to try to keep the water fights down. There’s a rule, no water fights in the hog barn, but about every Wednesday or Thursday afternoon, when it gets hot, the kids get jumpy,” he said. “They can get some pretty good water fights going. We got it one year. Superintendents are fair game.”

Besides breaking up water fights, Sheets said he does have to prepare for the Friday night livestock auction.

“I keep track, keep a list of who wants to sell their hog,” he said.

Because 4-H’ers are allowed to sell only one animal at the auction, he said he usually has to wait until after the beef show to find out who is selling hogs.

He said there are times when a 4-H’er forgets to check in with him.

“You get to know which kid is where and where his pig is,” he said. “Sometimes you have to run them down at the last minute to see if they’re going to sell.”

At the auction, Sheets said he makes sure the right pig is being sold at the right time.

“I’m at the gate checking them off,” he said. “I make sure the pig is in the right order as it goes through the sale.

“After the auction, I’m pretty much through.”

Fair board president David Todd said Sheets is an asset to the fair.

“He brings in years of expertise. He’s run the hog show for so many years,” Todd said. “He realizes the 4-H program and county fair are important in forming people’s lives.”

Sheets said he has remained superintendent for so many years because he enjoys the 4-H’ers.

“I like watching them grow. I’ve got guys bringing their kids back showing hogs and I can remember when they were teenagers,” he said.

Todd said 4-Hers respect Sheets because of the amount of time he’s spent helping at the fair.

“They see that here’s someone whose kids are no longer involved, but he is still giving to the community and county,” he said. “That’s got to speak volumes.”