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March 28th, 2024

4h pet showA contestant showcases her feline friend in a past 4-H Cat and Hand Pet Show at the Five State Fair. L&T file photo/Robert PierceROBERT PIERCE • Leader & Times

 

The Five State Fair is scheduled to kick off Aug. 18 with the Heart of America carnival taking place the first four nights.

Monday, Aug. 22, 4-H groups from Seward County start their fun at the fair with the fashion revue consultation at 5 p.m. at the 4-H Extension building.

Seward County K-State Research and Extension Wild West District Community Vitality Agent Kylee Harrison said this is just the start of fun things for youth at the fair.

“The next afternoon, all of the other kids who have any other inside projects are going to be doing their judging,” she said. “We do that consultation style, which means they sit down face to face with a judge. They talk to them about their project, what went well, what maybe didn’t get well or what they like about it. That’s when the judge would give them feedback and award them their red, white or blue ribbon. That’s going to be going on from 3 to 6 in the Activity Center Tuesday, Aug. 23.”

At 4:30 p.m. Aug. 24 is check in for rabbit and poultry exhibits, and starting at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 25 in the Beef Barn will be the Cat and Hand Pet Show.

A favorite of many 4-H youth, livestock competitions get under way with the weigh-in from 4 to 6 p.m. Aug. 26.

“From there, we’ll put them into classes based on their weight and get them all ready for the show, which is the following morning,” Harrison said.

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The 4-H fashion revue itself starts at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 26 in the Activity Center.

“The kids who got judged earlier in the week with the fashion revue, they are going to get to model their outfits,” Harrison said. “Some of those outfits will be ones they hand sewed that they created themselves. Others are going to be ones they purchased, but there are different criteria as far as how they purchase their outfits. Is it cost effective? How often can the garment be worn?”

Also on Aug. 26, 4-H youth will be selling raffle tickets to win two pork bundles featuring two boxes of loin filets, two packages of pepper bacon, half a box of rope sausage and one rib from Seaboard Foods.

Drawing for the bundles will take place just prior to the start of the KSCB Cornhole Tournament, which starts at 5 p.m. Aug. 28 at the Activity Center.

Tickets for the drawing are $5 apiece or five for $20, and Harrison said money raised from the raffle will go toward 4-H activities that take place throughout the year.

“For example, at our achievement banquet, we have a catered meal, so we need money for that,” she said. “We give away a senior scholarship. Each 4-H’er, every year, is eligible for up to $80 to use towards events, camps, etc., so the money will be going towards that. When we pay for judges for Club Days, that’s all of this money raised is going to be for.  It’s some general operating funds for the year.”

The start of a new 4-H year will be Oct. 1, and Harrison said in addition to purchasing tickets at the fair, people can contact 4-H youth, call 620-624-5604 or come by the Extension office at 1081 Stadium Road in Liberal. Tickets will be sold through Aug. 27.

“All kids have to have their tickets turned in by noon that day,” she said. 

Starting 8 a.m. Aug. 27 in the livestock arena will be the livestock show and round robin, and at 1 p.m. will be the Buyers Appreciation Meal.

“That’ll be for any buyer, anybody who’s doing any add-ons for the livestock sale,” Harrison said. “That’ll be at 1 o’clock in the Ag Building, and that moves directly into the livestock sale, which will start at 2 o’clock in the livestock arena.”

Prior to the livestock sale, shooting sports awards will be handed out, along with recognition of 4-H fair champions.

“That’ll be a good place if somebody’s wanting to catch everything all the 4-H’ers have done,” Harrison said.

Harrison added 4-H leaders would like to invite everyone who is considering making a donation to the organization to the livestock sale.

“If they don’t understand or haven’t been to a livestock auction, it could be kind of intimidating, but they do what are called add ons, which means if you have 20 extra dollars and you wanted to just to donate it to one kid in particular or if you wanted it to be divided up equally amongst all of the exhibitors, that could happen,” she said. “You don’t necessarily have to go spend thousands of dollars to buy an animal, go home with that animal. You can still go, and for $20 or whatever you’re able to give, you can still be able to support the kids.”

More awards will be given out toward the sale. Activities for 4-H’ers wind to a close with the horse show at 8 a.m. Aug. 28 in the rodeo arena.

Starting at 4 p.m. that day, all exhibits will be released, and those who want to get one last peak at the exhibits need to do so before then.

Harrison said Seward County’s 4-H participation has held steady around 35 to 40 children in recent years, with a variety of entries across the board at fair time.

“All of our kids usually do some sort of inside project, whether that be horticulture, food nutrition, visual arts,” she said. “I’ll see almost all of the kids at our consultation judging on Tuesday. That’s a very popular activity, and our Cat and Hand Pet Show the last couple years has been growing. There will be quite a few kids there, and the livestock show and sale, especially the sale, we recognize all of the kids even if they just do shooting sports. We’ll give out their ribbons. We’ll recognize the champions.”

Although some of the Extension’s programs were combined a few years ago with the formation of the Wild West District, which includes Seward County, Stevens County and Haskell County, Harrison said 4-H programs remain based in their individual counties.

“We didn’t combine things like 4-H councils,” she said. “The only time we really combine are for big activities such as officer training. We do Club Days as a district. Our kids get together and go to some fun activities and trips, but for the most part, especially when it comes to fair, that all remains within the county.”