Alexa and Nora Ellis are supportive sisters when it comes to the Allen County Fair.
It helps that their entries are, for the most part, in separate events.
Alexa, 15, is already a grand champion artist, taking home the top visual arts prize at the fair two years running.
Nora, 8, is just getting started in her first year as a bona fide Logan Pals 4-H member. She already has a knack for photography, with a pair of purple ribbons for her photos as early proof.
But that camaraderie will turn to competition Friday evening when both show off their goats at the Allen County Fairgrounds.
Will they root for each other?
“I’m rooting for myself,” Nora exclaimed, drawing a good-hearted laugh from her older sibling.
THE FAIR marks the culmination of months of effort for both sisters, who work with their animals daily.
“With Nora, it’s more playing with the animals,” Alexa teased.
Both have entered multiple shows through the offseason and are comfortable getting their respective animals to obey their every command.
“It’s almost routine,” said Alexa, who earned grand championships three years in a row in her younger years.
Nora agreed, but admitted a mixture of excitement and nerves for her first fair. (She participated as a Cloverbud 4-H’er in the past.)
Alexa will enter a market goat, a breeding goat and breeding heifer, while Nora will enter a breeding goat and a bucket calf this week.
IT’S THEIR work outside the show arena that’s turning heads.
Alexa has already earned her second straight grand champion award for her visual art piece, a graphite drawing of racing legend Dale Earnhardt.
The graphite sketch has details so precise and lifelike that at first glance, a passerby would incorrectly assume it’s a black-and-white photograph.
The impetus came when Alexa was watching an Earnhardt documentary with her father, Tim.
