By Joe Corcoran

Sophomore Macy Griebel says she has been attending the Iowa State Fair since birth, and just like many of the fair attendees, she loves it. But Griebel isn’t quite the same as your ordinary eat-every-fried-food-on-a-stick fair lover. She loves the fair because it gives her a chance to do something out of the ordinary.

Griebel gets to walk around with big ol’ stinky pigs! And guess what, she says she wouldn’t trade it for the world.  “I love the smell of pigs,” she joked, but later added, “It’s really about the people you spend time with.” She explained that she wasn’t into the roller coasters or into eating the crazy foods. “I do want to try showing cows sometime though,” she said.

Showing pigs started for Griebel at the Iowa State Fair when she was six years old, “I didn’t really do anything, I just followed my grandpa around,” she said. But she quickly began to do more and more on her own, and in her first year showing solo she won a multitude of awards. She says it was mostly luck, but continues to win more awards as she gets older.

The Griebels get their pigs when they are one month old and only about 60 pounds, but when it comes time to show the pigs the behemoths have grown to nearly 300 pounds! “It is pretty cool when you get to look at your pig and say, ‘I did that… that was me,’” Griebel said.

The Griebels have relatives who are pig farmers and commonly get their pigs from them. Once they get the month old pigs they go to work on fattening them up. It seems to be lot of work, but to Griebel it is more like taking care of a pet.

Griebel says she is proud of what she does, she has had success when showing and thoroughly enjoys pretty much everything about it. She believes she has made memories that will last her a lifetime, and she loves seeing the pigs grow and watching her hard work pay off. But above all she loves how much time she gets to spend with her family and all of the relationships she has built, and to her, that is what it is really about.