JOSEPHINE COUNTY, Ore. – Pig pens at the Josephine County Fairgrounds have been returned, just weeks before the county fair begins.
On Sunday over $76,000 worth of pig pens at the Josephine County Fairgrounds were hauled away. This comes weeks after Josephine County commissioners voted to stop funding Oregon State University’s extension service. They also cut funding for the program last year. County commissioners claimed hundreds of children left 4-H after a dispute over a club t-shirt.
The OSU extension service said Tuesday it was not involved in the removal of the pens. According to both OSU and Josephine County, the pens were removed by a small group of members from the Josephine County 4-H Association.
“We are looking forward to a positive fair experience for all youth and we are happy we were able to work in collaboration so quickly with our partners to be able to return the panels to the fairgrounds,” said OSU Extension Southern Region Director Jamie Davis.
“Everybody was really focused on how do we fix this for the kids and so I think the fact that we all shared that very real common goal really allowed all of us to work well together,” added Josephine County Recreation Director Tamra Martin.
The truck carrying the pig pens was escorted by the sheriff’s department back to the fairgrounds Tuesday morning. Community members gathered to celebrate their return and began installing them in preparation for the fair.
The auction day for pigs will continue as planned on August 10.
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