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100th DuQuoin State Fair kicks off today

The centennial DuQuoin State Fair kicks off today.

Illinois Director of Agriculture Jerry Costello tells Brownfield the department is celebrating 100 years in several ways throughout the fair, but he will personally celebrate the same way he has every year since he was a kid.  

“My great-grandmother would always get Malone’s Taffy and she passed away over a decade ago. So, every year that I am at the DuQuoin State Fair I buy Malone’s Taffy and put a piece on her grave after the fair, because that is something we always did together.”

Costello says the fair is a great economic driver for southern Illinois and another exhibition opportunity for ag youth.

“The work that families and our youth in agriculture put into exhibiting at both state fairs really just means so much. We at the department of agriculture realize that they are the future of ag in our state and we will do whatever we can to help support them.”

The 2022 DuQuoin State Fair runs through Labor Day.