Morgan Trowbridge is getting used to the word “grand.”

The 16-year-old member of the Pioneers 4-H group had already earned two grand champion awards for her lamb and meat goat at this year’s Douglas County Free Fair.

Saturday afternoon, Morgan’s 1,273-pound steer, Nelson, earned top honors as grand market steer.

“You just have to feed them right and work with them a lot,” Morgan said of raising champion steers.

For Morgan, that meant working the past year with her steers two hours in the morning and three hours more later in the day, she said. That doesn’t include additional time with her lambs and goats.

Morgan, who lived in Lawrence but has since moved with her mother to Olathe, also brought a second steer to the fair. A Kansas University basketball fan, Morgan named her second steer “K-rich,” in honor of former KU basketball player Kirk Hinrich, who since the end of last season has been drafted by the NBA’s Chicago Bulls.

Morgan, however, won’t see her steers after the fair. They will be sold or auctioned.

“You get attached to them,” she said.

The fair draws to a close today, and one of the final events will be the livestock auction scheduled for about 4 p.m. in the Community Building.

Sheila Lynch, Left, and Cael, 1, both of Lawrence, get a lick from Cookie while grooming her at the Douglas County Free Fair. The weeklong fair wound down Saturday.

“There’s always some who shed a few tears,” said Margaret Kalb, the fair board’s executive secretary. “They get very attached to their animals, and some have been working with them for a year.”

The 4-H exhibits will be released today at 7 a.m. and 4-H awards will be given out at 3 p.m. A dinner will follow the livestock auction.

This year’s fair went smoothly, Kalb said.

¢More about the Douglas County Free Fair

“We were pleasantly surprised by the weather,” Kalb said. “We got a nice rain yesterday (Friday) that cooled things down. Everything went pretty well.”

From left, Dave Conway, 16, of Lawrence, and Caleb Perez, 10, of Olathe, pet Debbie Hetrick's llama Bandit at the Douglas County Free Fair. Hetrick was preparing Bandit for cometition Saturday at the fair.

Colton Lynch, 12, combs his cow Cookie after giving her a good scrub at the Douglas County Fair. Lynch was done with competition but his animals had to stay at the fair until Sunday.