In addition to rides and cotton candy, farm animals are an important part of fairs. It’s an opportunity for farmers and 4-H members to show their animals.

At the West End Fair this week, cows were being prepped to show, rabbits were sleeping in their hutches, and at least one goat was trying to figure out a way out of his pen.

Heather Serfass, of Serfass Farms, was brushing a calf named Lucky. Along side Lucky were Chase and Redford.

“I’m getting them ready for show,” she said. The competition was at 2 p.m.

Over at the rabbit barn, Charles Kelshaw, a water specialist with the Monroe County Conservation District, was on hand to talk about water issues and the animals that live in the waterways.

A boy came over and asked about the fish in the aquarium. Kelshaw said it was a blue gill and explained that it has a blue coloration on the gill covers, so that is how it got its name.

Kelshaw also had crayfish in a second aquarium that he thought he might show people, but changed his mind.

“They kept pinching me,” he said.

Also on display was a large version of the new, colorful trail map of the Kettle Creek Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is located at 8050 Running Valley Road, Stroudsburg. It is part of the Monroe County Conservation District.

Kelshaw said the sanctuary is in the process of building a new pond that will include a window for people to see the animal life in the water. He also was enthusiastic about an ADA accessible trail from the parking lot to the Swink Pond.

For more information about the sanctuary, go to https://www.mcconservation.org/.