The annual Boone County Ham Show kicked off the Boone County Fair on Monday and accompanied the fair to the end.

   People registered their hams a day before, and all hams were neatly placed on tables to await judging. Participants usually start preparing in December of the previous year.

   A total of 177 hams were entered in the competition for this year’s ham show, 136 hams from the youth class and 41 from the open class. Main ham show judge Andrew Clarke evaluated each ham from many perspectives, especially the aroma. But Clarke also mentioned that the final winner depends on what this year’s judge likes. “You get a different group of judges, and you might get a different winner,” Clarke said.

   All of the hams that ranked in the top 10 had a score of 91 or higher. “We don’t leave until we have a winner,” said longtime judge Andrew Clarke as he inspected a table of hams starting at 8 a.m. Monday. An associate professor of food science at MU, Clarke has been the main judge at the ham show for almost 20 years.

   As he made the rounds, he was accompanied by Elaine George, who has also been helping with the show for nearly 20 years. Along with her husband, Ray, she is the ham show’s co-chair.

   Clarke’s methods for judging include picking up the hams, pushing down to check for firmness, flipping over to see all sides of the ham and sniffing to get a sense of the aroma. He could almost be mistaken for a jeweler appraising a diamond. “We’ve got 177 hams — they look different and they smell different. Clarke said with a smile. "It’s just a question of which one does the judge like today.”