The Appalachian Fair Baby Show kicked off the final day of the 2024 Appalachian Fair on Saturday. Lasting for nearly seven hours, the show saw judges giving individual babies prizes in several categories, including for development, beauty and personality. There were five different parts of the show: girls six to 12 months, boys six to 12 months, girls 13 to 24 months, boys 13 to 24 months and twins six to 24 months.
The show began at 9 a.m. at the Museum Stage and ended around 4 p.
m. The first section of the show for girls six to 12 months saw the most participants, with just over 40 babies taking part. The number of contestants in this first section caused registration to last until around 9:40 a.
m. “I'm a first-time parent and we are just enamored with our little one,” said Julian Boyd, whose wife was on the stage with their baby. “We want everyone to see how beautiful she is, which I think expresses how much we love her.
” Another parent of a participating child, Ashley Owens, likened the show to a “baby party.” “It's kind of funny because they have the parents hold their babies and walk around the stage in a circle two or three times so the judges and the audience can see everyone and it's almost like a parade,” she said. After coming up to the judges' table and subsequently walking around the stage, awards would be announced at a podium.
Those holding the babies—not always the parents but also other relatives—were then asked to go to a table at the bac.