The Central Alabama Fair offers much more than carnival rides, cozy dogs and beauty pageants. The farm animal area, similar to a petting zoo, is one of the most anticipated aspects of the fair.

“Some like to call it the petting zoo, but we like to call it the farm animal area,” Robert Key, Lions Club member said. “We have an area out back, where we have [the animals] all in their respective pens for the children to come in and play with –real hands on.”

Children of all ages will be able to play with a wide variety of farm animals at this year’s fair. Key noted that a ticket to get into the fair grounds is all that is needed to access the farm animal area.

“The real thing they get excited about, really, is when they bring the kids out and just let them intermingle with farm life,” Key said. “That seems to be the giggle for the mama and the daddy as well as the kids.

Lion Club member Alden Holley of Holley Farm & Garden is the man in charge of organizing all of the animals at the fair.

“They’re all from people in the local area; they’re all from Dallas County,” Holley said of the animals.

This year the farm animal area will include live chickens, baby chickens, baby ducks, peacocks, horses, miniature horses, pigs, baby pigs, goats, sheep, calves, geese and quail, as well as a miniature donkey, llama, pony, and a cow, Holley said.

“Every year one of the favorites are the baby calves,” Holley said. “We’ll bottle feed the calves every night around 7 p.m., and the kids really love that.”

The calves will be loose in the animal exhibits, Holley said, adding, “The kids can, of course, touch them, play with them and hug them.”

This year the farm animal area will bring something new to the Central Alabama Fair.

“This will be the first time we’ve ever done it,” Holley said in reference to joining with the Alabama Youth and Junior Bull Riding Association.

“They’re going to be hosting a bulling riding and mutton busting event on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night.”

Mutton busting, Holley said, “is it’s basically the same as riding a bull, except it’s for the younger children, and they ride sheep instead of bulls.”

So whether fair goers are mutton busting, feeding the calves or chasing the baby chickens around the farm animal area, Holley assures that, “it’s a lot of fun.”

For more information on the Central Alabama Fair, Holley suggests visting their website, www.centralalabamafair.com.