The Last County 4-H Fair

So, I can't decide just want I want to post in regards to my brother's last year in 4-H and the fair in general.  I think, you really have to be a part of county 4-H to really get it.  So trying to explain it in writing just isn't going to happen.  But as a big part of the patchwork that makes up my family, I feel I have to include it somewhere in this blog.  It seems my sister's and I always dated/married guys who weren't in 4-H at all, or very minimally, and they never could quite understand how we could spend a whole week at the fairgrounds.  But, it's just what we did.  We didn't go on vacations often when I was growing up because we didn't want to leave all the animals for very long.  So this was the one week where my parents took off work and we all spent a significant amount of time together.  And we always had plenty to do.  Eating delicious fair food, preparing all our animals for show, seeing lots of friends and extended family, and keeping an eye on all our exhibits.

Between the five kids, my siblings and I took a myriad of projects that we would prepare early in the summer (or at least by judging day).  Over the years, these included:  alfalfa, aquatic science, arts & crafts, cake decorating, child development, consumer clothing, electric, entomology, fashion revue, floriculture, foods, forestry, genealogy, geology, health, home environment, junior leaders, personality, photography, reading, sewing, soil & water conservation, weather, and wildlife (I think I got them all).  From this list it shouldn't be that surprising that three of us walked away with the tenure award (based on your record for projects completed).

Over the years we also exhibited seven different "species" of animals: always beef, most of the years pigs and rabbits, and some years goat, sheep, and starter calves/veal.  We even had a year or two with chickens.  Most of the time we bought our show animals, but over the years we bred and raised beautiful baby pigs, rabbits, calves, and even had a goat kid. 

In true fair form, I had planned to share some recipes, but my diet's been keeping me away from baking for awhile so I do not have photos to go with them yet.  Eventually, I'd like to share the champion recipes I remember:  my chocolate chip biscuits, the salsa my Aunt Denise helped me prepare, Megan's champion apple pie, Erin's champion baklava (Brian even helped her look to cook this one), and one of Matthew's many champions from food preservation.  Hopefully I'll get these up eventually!

But, as my family wraps up our 23 years in a rural, Indiana 4-H program, we're about to begin Theodore in a very different, suburban, Virginia 4-H program.  He is old enough for Cloverbuds (mini-4-H for you Hoosiers) this year!!  But, considering his father managed to take two projects I never enrolled in (vet science and dog), I have no idea what areas Theodore is going to pick to study for 4-H.  I'm afraid I'm going to have to really release my grip on his life when he signs up, so he can make 4-H meaningful for himself.  But, I'm sure I'll be adding a post or two about this next summer.

Show Arena:  2003, the last year I showed

2013 Huntington County 4-H Fair

I had started a post on the fair, going into the details of all the tradition involved, and realized it was going to be way too involved of a post.  I think I'll save it for next year when my brother finishes his tenth year in 4-H.  My mother requested the photos from the fair, and I decided to just turn them into a photo book for her instead.  You can see the results below:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

County Fairs.

We had a great time at the Huntington County 4-H Fair again this year.  It was HOT, and we got a little overheated a couple times, but it was a ton of fun.  Uncle Matthew had plenty of animals there to keep us busy the whole time.  This is the epitome of county fairs for us.  Theo got to enjoy the special foods this year, including milkshakes (at least one every day-and I never bought him one) and tenderloins!

After we got back, I decided I wanted to see what the fairs were like around here.  I went to the Delaware State Fair in years past, but it was already over, so I picked a few other local fairs to try out. 

The Salem County Fair was in New Jersey, and was similar to Huntington's in the fact that it was not focused around a big mid-way, as there were no rides to speak of.  There were some "pig races" and other entertainment, but most of the fair was traditional in being centered around the agricultural and homemaker traditions.  However, I didn't find a lot of 4-H'er exhibits, but there were lots of open class entries.

I noted how each species was different from what I'm used to in Indiana. In the rabbit barn, I noticed almost all the breeds were purely "fancy" breeds, those raised almost exclusively for pets. Being that Huntington has a huge meat show, it was very different in that way.  The poultry was similar, in there being lots of unique laying breeds, but few meat broilers. 

We then sat through the entire cattle show.  I did a really job judging the showmanship class (which is also judged on how well the animal is fit), and matched up with the judge very well.  There were then three classes of steers, shown not by breed, but by weight.  Eventually the judge picked the heavyweight steer as the champion, and then had a quick class of four heifers. 

We noticed a lot of differences in the sheep barn as well.  In Indiana, almost all the sheep are market sheep, but here there were all sorts of varieties raised for their wool!  They were really interesting to see.  This guy I think was a Jacob breed.

The goats were not so different, though there were a lot of Lamancha goats (the ones with tiny ears) that I haven't saw in a while, and less of the Boer goats.  There were not many swine entries to compare, but what were there ranged in weight from 150-300 pounds!  There was a lot of variety.

Theo also enjoyed the "miniature horses" that were at the fair, something he didn't see during the Huntington fair.

Next, we went west to the Queen Anne's County Fair in Maryland.  This one was a little more typically, in the food court and mid-way rides.  Some animals had already been released by the time we got there, but we still got a pretty good feel for the fair.  It was fairly similar to the NJ fair, but had a few differences.  There were probably a few more beef cattle, and meat sheep instead of wool sheep.  They seemed to have a lot more 4-H exhibits (like the sea shell collection below).  And they had a lot of horse and pony exhibits. 

 All in all, these fairs were both awesome places to take Theodore, and he enjoyed himself immensely.  They don't really compare to the fairs we're used to in the Midwest, but they did make me feel a little more at home, even out here on the East coast.

Delaware State Fair

Since we couldn't attend the Huntington fair this year, we made sure to check out the DE state fair. Now. I understand that this is not the Midwest. And I understand that Delaware is a tiny place (3 counties-873,000 people). However, it is hard to not compare this fair to my home county's fair (population 38,000).

It was very weird to see all the 4-H and FFA exhibits in a state other than Indiana. There are completely different projects here, and all the requirements are quite different. There was a quite respectable building full of exhibits in areas such as crafts, cooking, photography, sewing, and other projects. Below is a picture of their photography exhibit. The one thing that bothered me was that there don't seem to be Champions in the divisions (unless I missed them). So the best you can do is a blue ribbon.

One of the exhibits I really like is the "place setting" contest.

When it came to the animals, there were probably quite a bit less than at our county fair. However there was a lot more variety. I couldn't even identify all of the various sheep and poultry breeds, and enjoyed seeing beef breeds I normally don't. Some Belted Galloways were on display, one of my favorite breeds (see picture). I was quite annoyed that of the few rabbits shown, about two dozen of them were crossbreeds, which are typically declared to be unshowable outside of a "pets" class.
Some Numbers for the JUNIOR shows

Beef & Starter Calf shows: DE: 75 Huntington: 175
Rabbits: DE:  85 Huntington:  40
Sheep: DE:  LOTS! 300-400? Huntington: 150
Swine: DE: 200 Huntington: 470
Goats: DE: 175 Huntington: 300

I didn't check the results for the poultry and dairy, but it seemed pretty similar at both fairs.