Governor’s Sale of Champions at the Illinois State Fair

Posted on August 18, 2021
Landry Freeman with Gov. JB Pritzker and First Lady MK Pritzker. (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois has a First Lady, MK Pritzker, who outbid her husband, Gov. JB Pritzker, for the grand champion steer at the Illinois State Fair’s Governor’s Sale of Champions Tuesday night.

It was the second auction in a row in which the Pritzkers engaged in a bidding war, and the second auction in a row in which Mrs. Pritzker was the winner, this time $105,000 for the 1,385-pound steer named Bob.

“He should know better than to bid against me,” she told reporters afterward.

Landry Freeman, 17, raised the prize-winning steer and attributed her victory to hard work — in her first livestock showing at the fair. She is entering her senior year in high school in Winchester, Ill.

The meat will be donated to charity.

Bob declined to opportunity to comment.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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