County Fair

 

Olivia got enrolled in 4-H this winter, with attending her first club meeting in April. The County Fair is always a big event for 4-Hers, and I was super excited for her to participate. I was in 4-H for 13 years (The most you can), and worked for the program both managing a 4-H camp in the summer and working for the Extension Service.

Our fair prep began with an evening with our club, cleaning up a flower bed that our club was in charge of. Then on the Monday of the fair we met with the club again to decorate the hay bale (a 4-H club tradition that's new to me). Many thanks to my parents' garden center for donating the real flowers!

The biggest deal for me was Olivia bringing projects to get judged. Because of her young age she is considered a Cloverbud. These little ones don't compete for ribbon placements, rather it's just about the experience. Her judge was super sweet and made a big deal of how special she thought our apple strudel project was. She also brought a watercolor diagram of the parts of a butterfly, an abstract marker drawing of an owl, and a how to make maple syrup project.

Wednesday night we headed to the fair as a family to see Olivia's projects and all the other usual fair events. We had dinner (paired with healthy fruits and veggies from home), checked out the animals, and scoped out machinery hill.

Thursday was our clubs' shift for working in the food stand. All 4-Hers are required to put in some time working there. Again, since Olivia is so young, she was required to stay out of the kitchen for safety reasons. That put her and I in charge of wiping tables and keeping things neat and tidy for visitors. She did a great job, and enjoyed her chance to pretend to be Cinderella.

When our shift was finished we grabbed some lunch and ate at the playground. Prior to heading out we were able to watch a HUGE helicopter take off from the fairgrounds, and witness the cuteness of the Miracle of Birth Barn. This baby was only 6 hours old and had the hardest time finding milk from her mama. Poor thing! We sat there for a long time watching and cheering on the little girl, but she never found it while we were there despite the mama's attempts to nudge her to the back.

 

We didn't have reason to head back to the fair the rest of the days. Overall I think this first year was a great experience for us, and I'm looking forward to many more!