Over 40 people participated in the Alger County Fair’s Hay Bale Throwing Competition on Friday, Aug. 4.

Roughly 100 participated or watched the event in its first year at the Fair.

The event works similar to high jump or pole vault, but instead of a human getting over the bar, they’re throwing a hay bale over the height standard. According to Fair organizers, video of a similar competition shared on social media inspired the action.

“People found (the video) and shared it, so we thought it would be fun to try something new. Jeff (Martin) was willing to build us the standards, so we decided to go with it,” Fair Board Treasurer and co-organizer of the event Penny Moore said. “We kind of winged it the first year and have some good ideas for next year.”

Competitors were divided initially into mens and womens divisions. Dylan Johnson won the men’s division with a toss of 10’0”, beating out Cory Mallory and Dylan’s father Mike Johnson for the crown.

Towering over the field at six-feet-six-inches tall, Johnson was confident that he would take home the first title.

“Just years of growing up on Dorsey Creek Farm,” he said. “I grew up throwing hay bales, so I was born for this.”

Olivia DeVooght of Skandia won the women’s division.

She was able to get to 8’6”, which distanced her from the rest of the field. Kristi Charlebois took second at 8’0”, but the field of seven women bottlenecked with multiple contestants tied for third.

DeVooght said that she could have gone higher than the mark she set, but was happy setting an attainable goal for future competitions.

“I could have gone one or two higher. It was a lot easier than the 3,000 (bales) that I threw earlier this week,” she said.

After the men’s division, organizers started to struggle with the integrity of the bales. Tie straps, additional string, hay nets and more were used to try and keep the bales together. Luckily enough, the Moores and Martins were able to keep the bales consistent enough for the women’s division and youth divisions.

Aiden Korpi won the 13-and-under division with a toss of 6’6”. Ben Ledesma and Jerry Korpi finished second and third respectively. In the 14-19-year-old division, Jeffrey Martin won with a high toss of the day, reaching 10’6” with a half bale. He beat out Cody Moore and Nicholas Pasco for the title.

As more and more people wandered across the ball field to watch the event, adults started talking about the science of the event: trajectories, foot placement, how close to stand to the bar. As the teenage division was the last to participate, grownups started sounding like track and field coaches as everybody was wanting more and more success.

Moore said that the event was very successful and that it was a great time for the first full day of the Fair.

“It’s pretty good. Makes it feel good that people are going to come back to the fair next year,” she said.