REEDY WINS SPIRIT AWARD
REEDY WINS SPIRIT AWARD. Maddox Reedy, 9 year-old son of Kyle and Sarah Reedy of Tuscola, won the Spirit Award at the junior show as part of the 2022 Illinois Beef Expo held February 24-27 at the Illinois State Fairground in Springfield, Illinois. This year’s award, sponsored by Champion Show Stock, recognized four young exhibitors who displayed good sportsmanship, herdsmanship, and a strong work ethic. Throughout the weekend, a selection committee in the barns watched for juniors who deserved extra recognition. Also pictured with Maddox is fellow Illinois Junior Shorthorn Association member Alyssa Miller from Lanark, IL. who was a Spirit Award winner as well. The Expo, one of the premier cattle events of the Midwest, hosts multiple sales, a junior show, and a large industry trade show during the four day event. It is a popular first stop of the jackpot season for Illinois exhibitors as close to 700 animals are judged. The first Illinois Beef Expo took place in February 1988, after a forward-thinking group of cattlemen came together in 1987 to bring multiple breed sales and a junior prospect show together. That first expo saw nine breed sales and a prospect show for heifers and steers from all over the United States and has been held in the same format every year since, with the exception of years 2008 and 2021.
