HENRY, Ill. — ImAGination Acres, the interactive, educational kids’ farm exhibit that debuted at the 2013 Marshall-Putnam County Fair in central Illinois last year, has won a prestigious award from the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).

"We were approached by the Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) coordinator at the Illinois Farm Bureau, who had seen footage of this program. He asked if we would consider entering the County Activities of Excellence (competition) through the AFBF. We were very excited to be considered," said Tiffany Moodie, manager of the M-P County Farm Bureau office.

"We were one of 22 counties chosen in the entire nation, and we were awarded our recognition at the AFBF annual conference in San Antonio, Texas."

ImAGination Acres is the brainchild of Moodie, Julie Read, who serves as coordinator for the county AITC program, and Bob Fecht, M-P County Farm Bureau president. The trio designed and constructed the exhibit after collecting approximately $6,000 in donations from local businesses for materials.

In addition, local trades- and craftspeople contributed their talents to the construction of the exhibit. Interactive displays include a life-size porcelain cow kids can "milk;" a "Wagon of Wow" filled with Illinois corn kernels and toy farm implements; straw bale horses; a "Mini-Acres" farm; and a number of other fun and original agriculture-related attractions for kids.

Moodie said she visited children’s museums around the Midwest seeking inspiration for her vision for ImAGination Acres. But after winning the AFBF award last January, others are now emulating ImAGination Acres when designing kids’ ag exhibits for county and state fairs.

"We received a lot of interest from many of the southern states, especially Alabama and Tennessee, along with some East Coast states," Moodie said. "We basically constructed a miniature ImAGination Acres display to take to San Antonio."

Officials from county Farm Bureaus around the country were most impressed, however, by the funding mechanism Moodie, Read and Fecht employed to turn their vision into reality. The trio collected the project’s startup funds in just four weeks through a word-of-mouth campaign involving the ag community, local businesses and private citizens.

"I guess the things they were so impressed with were the manpower and the dedication from our farmers and membership," Moodie said. "And the community just totally got on board."

Moodie understands the need to freshen up the exhibit with new games and attractions each year, especially with a small, agriculture-based county fair – with no carnival midway – such as the M-P County Fair. For this year’s fair, which ended its five-day run July 13, a new seek-and-find garden was constructed to match its theme of conservation.

Live butterflies and a bee colony were also brought in for education, among other new additions.

The M-P Fair has free admission (excluding grandstand events), tractor and equipment shows, 4-H animal judging and other no- and low-cost attractions that hearken back to the heyday of agriculture-based fairs conceived with the whole family in mind. ImAGination Acres augments the fair’s family-friendly reputation – a connection not lost on the hundreds of families that visit the exhibit each day of the fair, according to Moodie.

"I’ve gotten calls from several parents who say how great it is to be able to come out to a fair where everything is free and family-oriented," she said. "That’s what’s exciting to me."