It's Show Time

HARTINGTON – More than 200 4-H members will find their way to the Cedar County Fair this week in Hartington.

An abundance of activities will be available for attendees of the 2023 fair – scheduled for July 19-23 – including several 4-H livestock shows, as well as plenty of 4-H projects on display at the fairgrounds.

'There's really not a lot that changes from year to year,' said Megan Hanefeldt, 4-H Extension educator for Cedar and Knox counties.

'The thing that probably fluctuates the most is really just our numbers and the project areas that tend to be a little more popular one year to the next,' she said.

4-H members and Clover Kids brought exhibits to enter starting the evening of July 18 and continuing the morning of July 19 at the 4-H Static Building, where 4-H static judging was going to take place.

Hanefeldt recalled the workshops – for 4-H members who are 8 years of age or older – that have been held this year leading up to the fair.

'I know one of the more popular ones this year was a fairy garden workshop,' Hanefeldt said. 'We put a limit on the number of kids just so we can keep it manageable, kind of like in a classroom setting.'

Several 4-H members signed up for the fairy garden workshop.

'We had so many sign up for that, we ended up doing instead of (just) a morning class, we did a morning and an afternoon class,' Hanefeldt said.

'We had close to 25 kiddos that came to do fairy gardens with us, so that will be exciting for that gardening area at the fair that we always have,' she said.

The fairy gardens are just one example of the many projects that 4-H members will bring to the fair and put on display inside the 4-H Static Building.

'We actually have a really good set of volunteers that come in and teach clothing workshops,' Hanefeldt said. 'Actually, we've got a fairly decent amount of clothing for our county side that youth are sewing and bringing.'

She mentioned this year's popular Cedar County 4-H Project Day.

'We had right at 40 (kids) this year come to participate in what we call Project Day, where they make different projects that they will start and finish up and then bring to the fair,' Hanefeldt said.

The 4-H projects from that particular workshop included potted house plants.

'Everybody went home with a house plant that was potted and ready to bring to the fair,' Hanefeldt said.

Another project allowed 4-H members to use wood-burning craft markers.

'You could use the marker and draw on the wood,' Hanefeldt said. 'Then if you use a heat gun, the heat gun will turn it to look like it's wood-burned. That was a fun project for the kids to try.'

4-H members also learned how to make gourmet cookies, such as chocolate chip and muddy-buddy ones.

'The intention of our workshops is to teach them a skill,' Hanefeldt said. 'They can learn how to do something and then they can ultimately bring that project to the fair.'

She noted Clover Kids – 4-H members who are 5-7 years old – also worked on their own projects during a day camp this year.

'At that camp, they did some things like a glitter bottle,' Hanefeldt said. 'They also learned about how a zucchini plant grows, and then they actually went home with a zucchini plant.

'One of the other ones that they did was, they made a cactus with pool noodles,' she said. 'We had someone bring in rabbits and they learned how to show a rabbit.'

As far as the 4-H livestock shows at the fair, there are going to be more participants in beef this year compared to last year.

“We do know that we have close to 50 bucket calves that will be coming,” Hanefeldt said, noting just over 30 bucket calves were shown in 2022. “That’ll be a highlight for this year.

“If they brought a bucket calf last year, they can bring back what we call a second-year bucket calf,” she said. “We’ve got seven of those. That is exciting for us.”

Several 4-H livestock shows have been scheduled for July 20, including the bucket calf show and the dairy show at the show arena, and the rabbit show and the poultry show at the small animals building.

On July 21, the beef show, the sheep show and the goat show are all set to be held at the show arena.

The next day, July 22, the swine show is scheduled for the show arena, while the horse show is set to take place at the rodeo arena.

The show arena on July 23 will see 4-H livestock judging, the 4-H Round Robin event and 4-H/FFA livestock premium recognition/static awards.

“We’re just looking forward to another great fair and, of course, seeing all the kids and their accomplishments and projects that they’ve worked on all year,” Hanefeldt said. “We’re just always excited to see how everything turns out.”

She highly encouraged fair attendees to ask 4-H members about the projects they have on display and the animals they are showing.

“It’s always so fascinating to see what they have to say about their chicken or their rabbit or the different things that they’ve worked on,” Hanefeldt said. “They’re definitely happy to share.”