![Mom calling]()
Fair season is in full swing.
Whether it's a local county fair or a large state fair, the family fun at a fair is unmatched. From the rides and funnel cakes to the large produce and farm yard petting zoos, there is truly something that people of every age can enjoy while visiting the fair.
While the activities are often the selling point for folks to come to the fair, for those of us who grew up in 4-H or FFA, the fair is often a competition time with livestock shows, Fairest of the Fair pageants, public speaking contests, or livestock judging competitions going on throughout the week. These are typically the competitions that I'd assume most people think of when they think of fairs, but in the last few years, there has been a rise in an
interesting style of "calling competitions."
If you have spent a deal of time on social media, there is a good chance you might have stumbled upon a few husband-calling contests where women step up to the microphone and give their best nagging yells similar to how they would yell at their husbands. Or, if you really want to see some wild stuff, I'd highly recommend watching the
Iowa State Fair's hog calling contest.
It appears that anything you can think of that could be screamed into a microphone...there's a contest for it. And now a Tennessee county fair has one for the kiddos to partake in. Wilson County, west of Nashville, held its Mom Calling contest, where young kids got on stage and delivered some stellar one-liners on how to effectively get their mother's attention.
I am sure any mother in the audience listening to this is probably having mild PTSD hearing their kids nagging at them on stage and potentially winning prize money for it...probably not a skill I'd enforce with my kiddos in the future.
But hey...if it gives them an outlet to nag without it being at their mother, maybe this contest is genius.
The kids that competed in this honestly crushed it. From yelling at their mom to not spend an arm and a leg at TJ Maxx, yelling at them for wrongdoings siblings did, to yelling at their mom trying to find them or calling them to come to watch something, I know I've probably done an array of all of these to my mother as some point in my years growing up. Each competitor who stepped up to the microphone had insane confidence during their performance, and many of the children got a lot of giggles from the crowd.
I'd love to get a judge's breakdown of what makes a winner for each of these calling contests. That's a masterclass I'd gladly take. This is hands down the best thing you'll watch all day.
Here is some bonus content while you're here: Check out the competitors from the 2023 fair. It's top-notch.
