Students participate in the Delaware County Junior Fair
October 6, 2022
Many Hayes students participated in the Delaware County Junior Fair during the week of Sept. 17-24. Students can participate through 4-H or FFA, and can enter with livestock or still projects, which are creative projects.
Olivia Connar, who is a freshman at Hayes, participated in the junior fair for the first time this year.
“My friend has a barn and she talked me into it,” Connar said.
She is a part of the Wild Riders 4-H club and had two market rabbits in the fair. Market rabbits are rabbits that are auctioned off at the fair and used for meat.
Connar said that her favorite part of the fair is the judging.
“You can either get eliminated or you can stay in [the show] and it’s just fun to see which one you’ll get to do,” Connar said.
During the fair, Connar has to clean and change her rabbits’ cages, feed them and give them water, and she has to work with them so she’ll be successful during showmanship, which is where the rabbits get shown.
Like Connar, freshman Hannah McAllister shows rabbits, but she also shows sheep. She has been showing since she was eight and is a part of the Radnor Ranchers 4-H club.
“I decided to do 4-H because I really liked working with animals and it gives you a lot of great experiences,” McAllister said.
Before the fair begins, McAllister has to work with her animals to prepare them for the fair. She has to make sure her sheep are calm by walking them to get them used to what they will have to do during the show. For her rabbits, she has to make sure they behave for the show by working with them, and she has to weigh her market rabbits to make sure they make weight.
“I do breeding sheep and sheep showmanship … this year I only did rabbit showmanship and market rabbits, but sometimes we’ll do breeding rabbits,” McAllister said.
McAllister has many things on her schedule during fair week.
“We bring the animals on Friday,” McAllister said. “On Saturday, we are there and we get the animals ready for the show. On Sunday, we have the rabbits and sheep and everyone that shows rabbits and sheep meet and have lunch together and then we have the sheep show Sunday night. Then we have the rabbit show on Monday all day and then we have the auction Tuesday night, and we bring our animals home Wednesday.”
During fair week, McAllister has to clean her rabbit’s cages and her sheeps pens, give them food and water and take care of them.
McAllister also really enjoys the showing aspect of the junior fair.
Natalie Hohman, who is a senior, shows goats through her 4-H club, Elm Valley 4-H’ers.
“Ever since I was little I really liked goats,” Hohman said. “I saw goats at the fair and thought it would be really cool to show them and then I joined the junior fair board to just get more involved in what happens at the fair and makes it work.”
With Hohman being a member of the junior fair board she gets to help run different shows and events throughout the week of the fair.
Leading up to the fair, Hohman has to walk her goats and get them used to what they’ll have to be doing during the show and work with them to make sure they are friendly.
During the week of the fair Hohman’s schedule is packed.
“I move in the goats on Friday which takes probably three hours and then I help other people move their goats in,” Hohman said. “Then on that Saturday, I probably was at the fair for about 10 hours, just getting ready, grooming the goats, trimming them, walking them, making sure everything is set up in the barn. Then Sunday I was at the fair for 14 hours, I worked junior fair shifts, I had costume contests in different shows and then kept grooming, trimming, preparing, like quizzing myself on showmanship questions, then Monday is show day.”
Before Hohman takes her goat into the ring for showmanship, she has to make sure that the animal is groomed the best it can be, by making sure its hair is washed, it’s bathed and its hooves are trimmed.
“I won the pygmy goat showmanship and then I made it to the supreme showmanship competition, that’s when everyone that’s best at showing their animals come together and show each other’s animals,” Hohman said. “I showed all the pigs, cows, dogs, chickens and the rabbits so that was cool.”
Hohman’s favorite part of the fair is teaching people about the animals and how the fair works.
“It’s really fun to teach all the little kids about them and get them interested the same way I was,” Hohman said.
