West of the I

This post sponsored by Westosha Floral.

The following deaths of local residents and those with local connections are being reported by funeral homes today. Click on name to see obituary/service information:

This year’s recipients of Quits of Valor quilts were honored at a ceremony Sunday morning at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair.

Twelve veterans were awarded quilts this year in recognition of their service in the US military.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation was founded in 2003. The local awardees are nominated and then selected to receive a quilt by the local affiliated organization, Sew Much Honor Kenosha County. This is the second year for the program here in conjunction with the Kenosha County Fair.

This year’s awardees are: Charles Ogren, Leonard Eibl, Bruce Feldkamp, Jared Kwiatkowski, Scott Andressen, Edward Crandall, Alan Jones, Jeffrey Martin, Carl Sattersten, Raymond Lee Cates, William Koehnke and Dennis Curnes (who was not present at the ceremony, but will be presented with his quilt around Veterans Day).

This year’s quilters were: Rose Ames, Patty Austin (Texas), Sarah Bazata, Ruth Bratz, Char’s Crafty Cottage, Debra DeVries, Doreen Daniels, Phyllis Epping, Ruth Epping, Pat Happ, Jenny Hesse, Lorie Hintz, Sue Keller (Indiana), Joan Ledanski, Kathy Moss, Old Company C, Serenity Puffinberger (Ohio), Shari Reilson, Mary Rossi, Carol Schneiderman, Dorothy Vorpahl and Nancy Wagner.

Here are photos of the awardees and their quilts:

The annual parade through the fairgrounds was held Sunday morning at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair in WIlmot.

Participants in the parade included elements of the fair, the Westosha Central High School band, fair royalty, some of the Quilts of Honor awardees, old tractors and other supporters of the fair.

Here is video of the WCHS band:

Here are more photos from the parade:

The 2026 Kenosha County Fair may have ended Sunday, but westofthei.com will still be publishing events we covered and judging results Monday (and maybe beyond).

If you’re looking for our coverage of Quilts of Valor, the Sunday parade, Cookies and Crowns and the small animal auction we’re working on them now, Check back!

Those attending the Kenosha County Fair had a chance to pay for some sweet treats and other things and benefit the fair’s building fund in the process at the annual pie auction on Friday night.

Supporters of the fair made baked goods or donate other things to be auctioned off at this event. All the proceeds go to the fund.

Generosity means paying a few hundred dollars for a pie is not unusual.

There’s also a battle of the barns, where each junior fair animal project assembles a package to be bid on.

Here is a video to give you an idea of the atmosphere:

Here are some more photos from the event:

The large animal auction took place Saturday at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair in Wilmot.

This is the payoff event where exhibitors in the junior fair swine, beef and sheep projects auction their animals.

Here is a video sample to give you an idea of the sights and sounds:

Here are some more photos from the event:

The Dairy Futurity show was held Friday at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair in Wilmot.

In the futurity show, kids too young to show animals 4-H get a chance to show their stuff in the Show and Sales Building. Each contestant dresses up themselves and a calf in a theme that promotes dairy.

This year’s judge was Scoopie from the Culver’s on Highway 142.

The winner was Bradley Edmonds.

Here are some more photos from the show:

The annual children’s parade took place Friday at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair in WIlmot.

Children dress up by 26 categories. Prizes are awarded for the best costumes in each category. A bountiful supply of cuteness is the result.

Here are more photos of the parade:

The horse show was held Friday at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair in Wilmot.

We may have results of judging later. In the meantime, here are some photos from the morning:

Below are pedal tractor pull results from day 2 of competition (Friday) at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair.

The rabbit show was held Friday at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair in Wilmot.

We expect to have results of the judging later. In the meantime, here are some more photos from the show:

Here are the results of judging from the sheep show at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair:

Sheep champions

• Champion Ram Jr. Show – Shown By: Brooke Linneman
• Champion Ewe Jr. Show – Shown By: Jillian Burdick
• Champion Pen of Market Lambs – Shown By: Harlow Gable
• Reserve Champion Pen of Market Lambs – Shown By: Brooke Linneman
• Champion Shropshire – Shown By: Melanie Monson
• Champion Hampshire – Shown By: Brooke Linneman
• Champion Suffolk- Shown By: Reese Woolard
• Champion Natural Colored – Shown By: Brooke Linneman
• Champion Oxford – Shown By: Jillian Burdick
• Champion Dorset – Shown By: Melanie Monson
• Champion Southdown – Shown By: Emil Burgess
• Champion Dorper – Shown By: Kayleigh Wiltjer

Sheep Shownmanship

• Junior Showmanship: Kayleigh Wiltjer
• Intermediate Showmanship: Melanie Monson
• Senior Showmanship: Alivia Monson
• Overall Showmanship: Jillian Burdick

Open Class

Champion Ewe Lamb – Shown By: Kendyl Perry

Overall

Champion Market Lamb – Shown By: Harlow Gable

Champion Crossbred – Shown By: Harlow Gable

Reserve Champion Market Lamb – Shown By: Harlow Gable

Emily Maxon was crowned 2027 Fairest of the Fair in a ceremony Saturday morning at the fairgrounds.

The crowning took place after a final round of judging at the Creekside Stage.

As fairest of the fair, Maxon will promote the fair throughout 2027 and preside over the Kenosha County Fair next summer. She will compete in the state fairest of the fair competition in January 2028.

First runner up was Kaci Peters.

Maxon is the child of Mike and Lisa Maxon. She graduated from Westosha Central High School and is now attending Gateway Technical College. Her career goal is to own her own home staging business. As first runner-up last year, Maxon served as fair royalty for 2026

Peters is the child of Kristi Peters and John Dabek. She graduated from Wilmot Union High School. She is attending Aurora University. Her career goal is to become an aquatic veterinarian.

Here are the results of open class and junior fair judging at the 2026 Kenosha County goat show held Thursday at the fairgrounds in WIlmot:

This post sponsored by Westosha Floral.

The following deaths of local residents and those with local connections are being reported by funeral homes today. Click on name to see obituary/service information:

Here are the results of judging in the 2026 Kenosha County Fair swine show, held Thursday at the fairgrounds in Wilmot:

The 2026 Kenosha County Fair poultry show took place Thursday at the fairgrounds in Wilmot.

We expect to have results of the show later. Check back.

Meanwhile, here are some more photos from the show:

The goat show at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair took place Thursday afternoon at the fairgrounds in Wilmot.

We expect to have results of the judging later. Check back.

In the meantime, here are some more photos from the show:

A cow shown by Jack Pauloni was named supreme overall dairy cow in the 2026 Kenosha County Dairy Show Friday.

We expect to have results of judging later. Meanwhile, here are more photos from the show:

Here are results of the judging from the 2026 Kenosha County Fair Beef show:

Camp Lake reopened to swimming and Paddock Hooker Lakes Association beach remains under a swim caution after re-sampling by Kenosha County Thursday.

The State Department of Health recommends posting warnings at beaches when test results indicate an E.coli level of 235/100mL or more and closing a beach when test results exceed E.coli 1000/100mL.

Results from Thursday that prompted the abo e actions were:

Camp Lake — 38 E.coli/100 mL.

PHLA — 613.0 E.coli/100 mL

These locations will not be re-sampled until next week.

Here are some of the 2026 Kenosha County Junior Fair Merit Award Winners:

Here are the pedal tractor pull results from Thursday’s competition at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair

Ages 5 & 6

• 1st Place – Riley Daniels
• 2nd Place – Jack Weber
• 3rd Place – Everly Mueller
• 4th Place – Madelyn Maluska

Ages 7 & 8

• 1st Place – Wyatt Johnson
• 2nd Place – Cam Johnson
• 3rd Place – Finn Monson
• 4th Place – Hank Terry

Ages 9 & 10

• 1st Place – Nash O’Reilly
• 2nd Place – Anneliese Steier
• 3rd Place – Emmalynn Peterson
• 4th Place – Emil Burgess

Ages 11 & 12

• 1st Place – Dylan Moehrke
• 2nd Place – Oliver Terry
• 3rd Place – Ali Fox
• 4th Place – Morgan Schuebkegel

There is another pedal tractor pull Friday by the 4-H exhibits buildings with registration starting at 10 a.m. and completion beginning at 11 a.m.

The 2026 Kenosha County Fair sheep show took place Wednesday afternoon at the fairgrounds in Wilmot.

Competitors competed in open and junior fair classes.

We expect to have results of judging later. Check back.

Here are some more photos from the show:

A steer shown by Aiden Billingsley was named grand champion at the beef show at the 2026 Kenosha County Fair Thursday in Wilmot.

Reserve champion was shown by Preston Jones.

We will expect to have the results of judging later. Check back.

Here are some more photos from the show:

Camp Lake is closed to swimming and Paddock Hooker Lakes Association beach is under a swim caution after sampling by Kenosha County Wednesday found elevated E.coli levels at those locations.

The State Department of Health recommends posting warnings at beaches when test results indicate an E.coli level of 235/100mL or more and closing a beach when test results exceed E.coli 1000/100mL.

The results from Wednesday that prompted the closure and caution were:

• Camp Lake — 2419 E.coli/100 mL.
• PHLA beach — 649 E.coli/100 mL

The above locations are scheduled to be resampled. That typically happens the next day, weather permitting.