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Joys of Fair and 4-H
All of us can remember the simple joys of fair, the overriding sweet smell of fried dough coated with sugar wafting through the air, tiger’s blood flavored snow cones, endless carnival rides during warm summer nights and numerous 4-H events. This is the time of the year when the 4-H members show off all of their projects and compete in various events throughout the Elmore County Fair.
This year was the first year UI Extension Elmore County 4-H had clubs partake in shooting sports with firearms, specifically shotguns and .22lr rifles. Shotgun and rifle events started on Saturday morning, July 13th at the City of Mountain Home Shooting Range. Archery took place on Tuesday, July 16th at the Glenns Ferry Fairgrounds highlighting recurve, traditional and compound bow events.
Monday and Tuesday were the start of the more traditional 4-H animal events such as horse showmanship, English horse and numerous mini horse events. Over the last five years the mini horse has gained popularity among Idaho 4-H. Working ranch horse events took place as well, highlighting ranching and horsemanship techniques for cattle. Wednesday morning was the swine showmanship and quality events followed closely by 4-H goat, beef and cat shows. This year was also the first Draft Horse Pull event hosted by the Elmore County Fairgrounds, the crowd was quite pleased with this new event.
Thursday morning was the sheep show, dog obedience (Glenns Ferry Park), poultry, rabbit/cavy/ferret and the Jr. Bull Riding championship at night. The Jr. Bull Riding Championship was well attended and was followed by the Glenns Ferry Folkloric Dancers and a live band. Friday morning started with the dairy show, dog agility course and the large and small animal round robin events. The Open Rodeo was held Friday night and attendance was high.
Saturday morning started at 4:00 a.m. for many 4-H parents and volunteers, as they prepared for the 4-H Buyers’ Breakfast. The Buyers’ Breakfast is held just before the 4-H Livestock Sale, where all the 4-H/FFA members sell their animal projects (swine, sheep, goat and beef) to local buyers from across southern Idaho. The Livestock Sale was auctioneered by Jack Riggs and was very successful. UI Extension Elmore County 4-H handed out awards just before the Livestock Sale for our wonderful 4-H members/leaders/parents and friends of 4-H. Another Open Rodeo was held Saturday night along with country music from Mike Walker.
The UI Extension & 4-H Elmore County Office would like to thank all the 4-H leaders/members/parents for their participation in 4-H and during the Elmore County Fair. We would also like to thank the Elmore County Commissioners, Elmore County Fair & Rodeo Board, Fairgrounds Manager (Julie Lisle) and Fairgrounds Crew (Lynn Kness) for their outstanding work ethic and preparation of the Elmore County Fairgrounds. We hope you all had a blast at every 4-H event, we sure did! See you all next year! We will especially miss our graduating senior 4-H members and wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors and THANK YOU for participating in UI Extension Elmore County 4-H!