EFFINGHAM — The Effingham County Fair always brings memories for families.
Alvin and Kellie Siebert have been sharing just that as father and daughter.
Alvin, who was the former speed superintendent at the fair from 1983 to 1985, is now a licensed harness racing judge and has been in that role for the last three years. He judges at four different fairs around the state.
Gene Milleville was the person who insisted that Alvin apply to be a judge.
Though Alvin taught at Lake Land College for 30 years, he said the test to become a judge was the hardest he’d ever taken.
“It was an all-essay test,” Alvin said. “No multiple choice and it had two to three lines on every question. It was very difficult.”
Being a harness racing judge is a change of pace for Alvin.
“This is just another responsibility and a different area that I can control,” Alvin said. “I enjoy the position even though there are different challenges that I’ve never had before.
“It’s an honor that I’m a judge.”
Dean Wetherell is the fair’s current speed superintendent and has been since 2003.
Alvin recalls the job never being your prototypical 9-to-5 position.
“I enjoyed doing it and working with the horses and the people. At that time, I was also taking information when people called in to register the horse at the races,” Alvin said. “That was a lot of work for me, but now it’s been broken down. The speed superintendent now doesn’t have nearly as much paperwork to do as they did in the past.
“I enjoyed being out there all week long. It was a lot of hours.”
Alvin got into harness racing through the late Carl Becker, the fair’s former track announcer and father of Kurt Becker.
He remembers his first job and having an office in a stall. Carl was one of the reasons for that.
“Carl gave me a job to be the speed superintendent at the Bond County Fair in Greenville, Ill., and my office was in a stall,” Alvin laughed. “The phone rang in the stall.”
Since becoming a judge, Alvin has noticed how taxing the position can be.
A lot of work goes into judging multiple races. The judge also has to authorize fines and make rulings.
“[We look at] if a guy’s excessively whipping. Did he try to motivate [the horse] at the very last stretch? That’s a bit different story than beating [the horse] all the way around the racetrack,” Alvin said.
You also have to be able to see the action, be it through binoculars or by the naked eye.
Alvin said the Effingham County Fair does have an issue with the first turn, which is blocked by equipment, but he does have remedies in mind that could help.
“We’re recommending that you have an assistant judge to help you because four eyes is better than two,” Alvin said. “The first turn at the Effingham County Fair is terrible, because you can’t see anything due to the bleachers and the equipment; we’re trying to get a replay monitor, too.”
Struggles aside, nothing beats the grandeur that is the Effingham County Fair.
“When you drive past our fairgrounds, there’s nothing like it,” Alvin said. “I go to other fairs and they don’t have but 50-75 people [watching the races]. At Effingham, the place is two-thirds full and you’ve got people that have been there for years.”
Once such family is the Zacha family, relatives of Alvin and Kellie.
“The Zacha family, as long as they’re able, are usually sitting on the top row of the grandstand, watching,” Alvin said.
The fair even dedicated a corner for the family.
That is where Kellie watches the action.
“As far back as I can remember, I’d sit at the top right-hand of the grandstand and watch the races,” Kellie said. “I loved watching them go around the track.”
Kellie is tabbed to overtake Wetherell’s position as speed superintendent once Wetherell decides to retire. She is the current assistant speed superintendent.
Fair week is Kellie’s vacation in a sense.
“Fair week is always interesting,” Kellie said. “You never know if the rain is going to like us and stay away, or if we’re going to postpone races. The one thing that people don’t understand is fair week isn’t just a week out of the year; it’s 52 weeks.
“What I help Dean with starts around April.”
Kellie said that being related to the Becker family has only helped her realize that this is something she’d want to do.
“Horses have always been my life,” she said.
One of her prouder moments was bringing the idea of a winner’s circle to the fair board. Kellie got the idea while she was attending another fair with Alvin in 2019.
“The board was good with it, so we started to work on it the next year and developed the first phase,” Kellie said. “It’s been modified since and everyone has loved it since it debuted.
“It’s one of my prouder accomplishments.”
Becoming a speed superintendent has never been Kellie’s end goal.
That changed once Carl passed away.
“He left a huge impact on me, so when he passed, it turned even more gears,” Kellie said. “I knew this was what I wanted to be a part of.”