In the middle of November 1967 the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation held its state convention in Pocatello, at the Hotel Bannock. On the Wednesday evening, November 15, the Farm Bureau's talent find and discussion meet held their state finals, and every young contestant on the program had already won a district round. One of them was Kay Bailey of Arbon, and the next day's Idaho State Journal put her in its headline.
The paper's preview that Wednesday explained what was at stake. In the senior division, first place in either contest carried an all-expenses trip to Chicago in December for the American Farm Bureau's national convention. Juniors were playing for a state title and nothing more. The finalists came from five districts across the state. District 1 sent two seniors, Kay Bailey and Anne Warner of Soda Springs, along with one junior, Kerma Shumway of Preston. Other senior finalists named in the preview came from Springfield, St. Anthony, Sugar City, Grandview, Meridian and Cottonwood.
Kay won. Singing a medley from Broadway shows, she placed first among the senior performers at the state finals. The discussion meet went to Robert Ohlensehlen of Jerome, who had half an hour to prepare a talk on what farming would look like ten years on. Each of the two had now earned the paid trip to Chicago. The junior talent find produced a tie, leaving a Rigby pianist level with a Grangeville pair whose act was a Smothers Brothers pantomime.
The convention's program for Thursday, November 16, set aside 10:30 that morning for the junior and senior talent winners. The slot fell between Senator Frank Church's talk at 9:30 and the resolutions at 10:45. Representative George Hansen was to speak at 4 p.m., and Charles Shuman of Chicago, president of the American Farm Bureau, at the evening banquet.
Farm Bureau work in the valley went back much further. In 1918 and 1919 the Power County Farm Bureau helped run the campaign against ground squirrels in Arbon Valley, and in January 1919 it named Lucien McLarry its district leader for Arbon (see the squirrel campaign and the McLarrys).
Much is not known. The papers give Kay's home as Arbon but not her age, her school or her parents. Baileys had been in Arbon since the 1890s, as the Bailey family pages tell, but no source found for this post says which household she belonged to, and this post does not guess. Nor do the pages read here say which songs were in her medley, whether she sang again at the Thursday session, or how the trip to Chicago went in December.
On this site: the Arbon area and the Bailey family of Arbon.
The story as reported
Idaho State Journal, November 16, 1967, page 2. The original article is under copyright; this is our own report of what it said.
The Idaho State Farm Bureau named two state champions at its contests on Wednesday evening, November 15, 1967, and one of them came from Arbon.
In the senior talent find, first place went to Kay Bailey of Arbon. She performed a medley of songs from Broadway musicals, and the field she beat was made up entirely of district champions.
The discussion meet title went to Robert Ohlensehlen of Jerome. He had just half an hour between learning his subject and delivering his talk, and the question set for him was "What Will Agriculture Be Like 10 Years from Now?"
Their reward was the same: a December trip to Chicago, all expenses paid, for the American Farm Bureau's national convention.
No single state winner came out of the junior talent find. Sherry Olsen of Rigby, a pianist, was declared co-winner with Arie Koole and Randy Vanderwall of Grangeville, whose act was a Smothers Brothers pantomime.
The account ran the next day on page 2 of the Idaho State Journal, alongside other reports from the Farm Bureau convention in Pocatello.