The 2025 East Perry Community Fair is now one for the history books. Once again, thousands of people made their annual pilgrimage to Altenburg, Missouri. This tiny southeast Missouri village is usually a quiet, peaceful place, but for 2 days in September, it becomes a bustling community of people who enjoy the food, fellowship, and fun at the fair.

I am going to place 3 galleries in this post. These galleries will be exhibits, animals, and “others”. I am not going to give much commentary.

Many folks around here like to display their talents by entering their products to be judged at the fair. Below is the Exhibits Gallery.

Quite a few folks around here raise a variety of types of animals, and they also bring them to the fair to be judged. Here is the Animals Gallery.

Before I place the last gallery here, let me confess that I neglected to get photos of some very important aspects of this year’s fair. I am going to chalk it up to getting old. I did not take any photos of the amazing variety of foods and drinks available every year at the fair. Nor did I walk over to the Midway to get any pictures. I also admit that, unless we have a bunch of our grandkids in town for the fair, I rarely stick around for any of the evening activities. Perhaps I need to find someone in future years to contribute some more photos of the many events that take place at the fair that I do not cover.

The last gallery you get to see is a catch-all-the-rest selection of photos that I will call the Others Gallery.

This may not seem important to some folks around the country and around the world, but there was an unexpected occurrence at the fair yesterday. We have not had a drop of rain in Altenburg for about a month. For about 10 minutes yesterday, it rained. Normally during fair days, people frown when it rains, but not this time. I think most people enjoyed it, and it settled some dust.

The fair is about many things, but maybe the most cherished thing is the fact that people get to interact with other people they may only see at the fair. There is plenty of story-telling that goes on at the fair. And most of the stories told bring out smiles and laughter.

Finally, as I prepare to attend church this morning, let me share an old story that I was once told. It was told to me by a young man who was preparing to become a pastor. I will use the term, manure, when I retell the story, but the original story used a synonym for manure that I will not use here. I will also illustrate the story with a few other photos I took at the fair. The story is a short one and goes like this. “The Gospel is like a pile of manure. If it just remains in a pile, it stinks. But if you spread it around, great things can happen.”

A good story should be told. So, until next year, I encourage you to spread the stories..