2006 Jeff County 4-H Fair complete coverage

New district promises to unite 800 4-Hers

by Sara Peterson-Davis

The creation of the Meadowlark Extension District won’t affect the Jefferson County 4-H Fair, but it is expected to increase the number of opportunities available to the county’s 4-H’ers.

Photo by Monty Davis Morgan Gantz, 9, of Perry, left, and Addy Pruett, 8, Perry, laugh while attempting to get a bucket calf to drink water during the Jefferson County 4-H Fair. Audio slide Show Complete Fair Coverage Brooke Bailey 4-H Queen Geology Project Free Watermelon Feed Bucket Calf Project Lexie Kiser Feature

“That was one of the main advantages
of the district was to expand youth opportunities,” said Cindy Williams,
food and nutrition FNP with the
Kansas State University Extension Service Meadowlark District’s Jefferson County Office.

Williams and David Hallauer, crops,
soils and horticulture agent with the district’s Jefferson County Office, sat down during the fair to talk about
what the new district system will mean
to 4-H programs, as well as talk about this year’s fair and general trends in Jefferson County’s 4-H program.

Together, according to Williams, Jefferson, Jackson and Nemaha
counties combined have the highest
4-H enrollment rates in the state with
more than 800 members. The creation of the three-county Meadowlark district will allow 4-H leaders to organize district-wide events that will bring all that energy together.

“We’ve already done those type of things in the past and this just sort of formalizes it,” Hallauer said. “We hope there will be some expanded programming district-wide in the 4-H area.”

The first district-wide 4-H event will be Oct. 10 at Jackson Heights High School and will serve as a kick off for the new district-wide 4-H program.

Aside from more multi-county events, the most noticeable changes the 4-H public will notice is the addition of new faces on the county and district-wide levels.

In May, Sherry Seifert joined the Jefferson County Extension Office staff as a 4-H Assistant. Seifert has more than 40 years experience as a member and volunteer with the organization. She will join Williams and Hallauer in managing the 4-H programs in Jefferson County.

The Meadowlark District is in the process of hiring a district 4-H agent to take care of the volunteer piece of the program for clubs throughout the district. That agent will work out of the district office in Seneca.

As for control of the three county fairs, Hallauer and Williams said, that will stay in the hands of the local fair boards.

“There shouldn’t be any changes whatsoever in the fair as we know it,” Williams said. “Each of the counties will keep their fairs separate.”

This Year’s Fair

The strong membership in Jefferson County was reflected in the number and diversity of the entries at this year’s fair, Williams and Hallauer said.

Fair organizers saw strong numbers of entries in the arts and crafts, photography, food and nutrition, and clothing categories.

Food entries were consistent with past years, according to Williams, with breads being the most popular. One of the fastest growing categories is food preservation with 53 entries. That was up from as few as 10 in past years.

With many projects, food judges are raising the bar on 4-Her’s entries, Williams said. The level of difficulty and nutritional value are becoming increasingly important, with judges looking for healthy ingredients and the cooks’ understanding of recipes and techniques.

“With the high rate of obesity in the United States, that’s (the nutritional value) going to be of greater concern and that’s going to be reflected in some of the food projects.”

While gooey brownies still have their place on the judges’ table, healthier ingredients like whole wheat flour are taking a front seat.

So is food safety, which has become a growing concern nationwide.

“It’s making the kids think a little bit more and taking it to the next level,” Williams said.

As in the foods, judges are challenging arts and crafts participants to be creative. While they take age into consideration in their judging, Williams said many judges looked for projects with original lines and designs.

This year’s fair saw a slight decline in the number of livestock and vegetable entries. Hallauer blamed the drop on higher than usual livestock prices, as well as less than hospitable growing conditions for produce.

In recent years, Hallauer said he has seen the changes in the demographics of Jefferson County reflected in the livestock programs. An increasing number of 4-H’ers participating in the livestock programs don’t necessarily come from an agriculture background, but live on a few acres of land in the county. Without large family-owned herds to pull their projects from, many of these kids start their own small herds to participate in 4-H.

This trend is especially illustrated in the swine projects. While there are only a few major swine operations in the county, the fair has nearly 160 head of pigs each year.

“That very much fits with the way the county has transitioned,” Hallauer said. “We have a lot of small landowners that may have a few head of livestock.”

The most encouraging trend is the quality of the projects and the level of knowledge of participants.

During the entomology judging, Hallauer said, a participant questioned a judge’s call on the identification of an insect in her collection. She was able to show the judge she was right.

“We’ve been very fortunate to see our numbers stay very strong and the project stay very strong,” said Hallauer. “These kids are really pushing those judges. They have really taken those projects to another level.”