There was plenty of screaming and squealing coming from the Illinois State Fair’s Lincoln Stage Sunday afternoon. The winners of the hog- and husband-calling contests take home $350 each.
Chris Karr, a Champaign County pig farmer, was a repeat winner of the hog-calling contest. This year, he augmented his call with a prop: a gizmo with flashing lights branded as a GPS – “Good Pig Signal.”
“Animals respond to voice command,” he said afterward. “I called hogs, and they’ll come. Do we need (the distinctive squealing)? I don’t know, but my goal was to entertain the folks.”
Champion husband-caller Cheryl O’Reilly of Chicago was a first-time entrant. What made her enter? “It’s the Illinois State Fair – who wouldn’t want to?”