GUILFORD – With the 165th Chenango County Fair just a day away, the fair’s board of directors has announced Terry and Julie Ives as this year’s Mr. and Mrs. Chenango County Fair, in recognition of the couple’s dedication to community, family and agriculture.

The Ives, who share management of Greenview Farms in Guilford with Terry’s uncle Albert and wife Judy Ives, have long been a part of the Chenango County Fair. Terry, in fact, represents the third generation of the Ives family to show cattle at the fair, and has helped out with repairs to the cattle barns over the years. He has also served as an officer with the Chenango County Holstein Club; as director, president, vice president and secretary of the Chenango County Farm Bureau; as a member of the NYS Farm Bureau Dairy Advisory Board; as a member of the Chenango County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board; as chairman of the Chenango County Dairy Promotion Committee; and with the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council. In 2008, he was appointed by the NYS Commissioner of Agriculture to serve on the Dairy Promotion Advisory Board.

His father, said Ives, helped build the H Barn back in the 1950s, located east of the grandstand.

“It’s always been a tradition,” he added. “Agriculture is very important to our area, it’s the backbone of our local economy and it’s kind of what we’re known for in Chenango County.”

Julie Ives, who grew up in the Conklin area prior to relocating to Guilford, has been an important fixture with the local 4-H for more than two decades. She has volunteered as a judge at the fair, as well as exhibited her own entries. According to the fair’s board of directors, the Ives “exemplify the matching of dedication to community, church and family while balancing all aspects of farm management.”