Hundreds in 4-H ready to showcase skills at fair
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FAIRMONT - Across animal shows and exhibitor events, 290 4-H participants are raring to go with 2,257 total entries as the Martin County Fair draws near.
For those who are part of the 1,386 livestock entries, the show begins on the 14th, when they do a livestock interview to discuss their projects.
"They’ll have an interview with someone that’s experienced in raising and showing that species," Martin County 4-H Extension Educator Laura Pilarski said. "They’ll ask all sorts of questions about the health of the animal, what they’re feeding their animal, and it’s really aged or scaled by their age. The clover buds get more basic questions, and then the seniors will get the more complicated, in-depth questions."
From there, they will have their competitions during the week of the fair. Eligible animals for competitions include rabbit, poultry, sheep, swine, dairy and meat goats, horses and dairy and meat cows.
Tuesday will feature the 4-H meat goat show at 1 p.m., lamb lead at 3:30 p.m. and sheep show at 4 p.m. Wednesday will have the swine show at 8 a.m., the mounted horse obstacle challenge starting at 10 a.m., the feedlot market cattle show at 11 a.m., the rabbit show at 12:30 p.m. and the poultry show at 2 p.m.
Thursday is the day for the 4-H dairy cow and dairy goat show at 9 a.m., beef show and FFA rabbit show at 11 a.m. and the premier showmanship event at 4 p.m., featuring multiple animals.
The memory of Leighton Hugoson, who passed away on July 26 after a farming accident, will be honored Thursday with Leighton Hugoson Day. Martin County Fair Board Vice President Steve Pomerenke said it was chosen because Thursday is FFA Day and the 4-H beef day for showing cattle.
FFA and 4-H have come together to purchase special shirts, which will be given to all competitors and worn on Leighton Hugoson Day. Pilarski said Leighton's sister Zoe Hugoson will also be presenting the heifer Leighton was going to be showing at this year’s show.
"We’re also going to set up a stall for Leighton with his stall card and some of his banners and things from throughout the years as a little set-up memorial for him as well," Pilarski said.
Friday will have the 4-H horse show at 8 a.m., regional goat show at 3 p.m. and regional sheep show at 8 p.m. Saturday features the open class and FFA horse show starting at 8:30 a.m., MN State Hampshire Sheep Show at 9 a.m., regional hog show and rabbit show at 10 a.m. and noon and the 30th annual Kim Shoen Steer and Heifer show at 2 p.m.
Finally, Sunday features the final events for 4-H in animals, the regional beef show at 10 a.m. and a judging contest at 12:30 p.m.
Several participants in these shows got their feet wet earlier in the summer with the Minnesota Youth Livestock Expo (MYLE). Having a unique opportunity to show their animals before the county fair is something Pilarski said supports their learning.
"The more you can show your animal, bond with your animal and get used to them being in that setting," she said. "It’s nerve-wracking for the youth, but it’s also nerve-wracking for the animal if they’re not used to being in front of a lot of people and in the show ring, so the more experience, the better."
For those who submitted one or more of the 871 entries in exhibitor events, Pilarski said Monday is their day to shine, with whatever ribbons they win featured alongside their project for the rest of the fair.
"That is our general entry day," she said. "That’s where they bring in all their projects, from quilting to doing a project about hunting to doing a project about animal health. That’s all being judged on Monday, and that’s along with club banners and things like that, club projects."
There are 60 different project areas 4-Hers can submit works into. Among them, Pilarski said photography and fine arts and crafts are two of the most popular.
"One is elements of photography, which encompasses the general taking photos, the art of it, how things are framed," she said. "We do have a photo manipulation category too, so editing photos. Fine arts and crafts. You can either bring something that you made from a really cool craft kit, or you could bring in a beautiful painting that you made."
Within these and all other categories, Pilarski said it is really about providing opportunities for whatever 4-H kids are interested in.
"We want to be able to have them have an opportunity to talk about what they’re passionate about, and to be able to talk about what they learned in creating that project," she said.
When they are done with their events, Pilarski said the week ends with them being able to symbolically sell any of their ribbons, blue ribbon or higher for livestock, to local businesses and community members who want to support them and their projects.
New this year are gates for the sheep barn, which Pilarski said Pomerenke helped to facilitate.
"We were concerned the gates were quite old, especially for those younger 4-Hers," Pilarski said. "It was a lot to move the fronts of the gates. We wanted something that aesthetically looked better, and they’re all repainted. They look great. They straightened out all the posts."
In addition, a new scale is currently being worked on for the swine barn that will be complete in time for the fair. With these improvements, Pilarski said Martin County is very lucky to have such strong community support.
"I think we do have a really good ecosystem with our fair board and with other local organizations," she said. "Being able to have that support not only is great for the kids, but it’s great for our relationship and how we collaborate on things. It’s been good to work with people and assess what needs to be done, and it’s been a really good learning experience for a lot of the youth too."