The hours of hard work, early mornings and late nights will culminate this week.
4-H members will showcase their animals and other projects to be judged and admired by attendees of the Johnson County Fair. They’ll celebrate the camaraderie they’ve built through the organization, and enjoy all of the aspects that make the fair the highlight of the year.
And for one group of 4-Hers, they’ll relish in the unique tradition for one last time.
“It’s a lot different,” said Isaac Carter, a 4-H member from Trafalgar. “Right now, we’re still getting everything organized and preparing the animal like we normally do. At the same time, it’s weird, because this is what I’ve done 24/7 all year long.”
Nearly 40 youths have reached the pinnacle of 4-H membership — the 10-year mark. These longtime members have stuck with the organization a decade, learning valuable skills, making new friends and helping carry on the agriculture in Johnson County.
For the last time this year, they’ll enjoy the fair as participants. But though the moment is bittersweet to reflect on, they know that their time in 4-H will never truly end.
“Thankfully, I have a lot of younger siblings. So yes, this is my last fair participating, but I’ll always be around,” said Dylan Duncan, a 10-year 4-H member. ”I’m going to go out and do the best I can, and I know that if I don’t get the results I want this year, hopefully my siblings can go out and get it next year.”
Young people can sign up for 4-H once they reach third grade. The organization is the largest youth development group in the country, and it helps students grow into leaders through a variety of hands-on projects and activities.
For Carter, the achievement of a 10-year 4-H career is a family heritage. He is the youngest of three generations to reach that level, starting with his grandmother, Joyce Morris. His mother, Mindy Paulin, and uncle, Bruce Morris, both made it 10 years in the organization, and his cousins and siblings have as well.
To carry on that streak has been special.
“It was something I was born into,” he said. “I’m very proud to carry on my family’s tradition of learning responsibility, time management and other skills that helped me mature as a young man. And it meant a lot to my family as well.”
Carter has shown beef steers and heifers throughout his time in 4-H. Getting the massive animals to finally do what you want is a special feeling.
“Beef steers have always been my favorite, because once you get them so broke, they’re just 1,300 pound puppy dogs,” he said.
Family also played a role in Jenna Kelsay’s start in 4-H. Both of her parents, Amy and Joe Kelsay, were in the organization; it runs in her family, she said.
“I was always looking forward to 4-H for a long time. Fair week was one of my favorite times,” “I knew I wanted to show livestock and do a lot of projects.”
Throughout her time in 4-H, Kelsay has done too many activities and projects to recall. But two that stand out are showing livestock such as dairy cattle, swine and Boer goats, as well as the fashion review.
She competes in the sewing and consumer clothing categories, and has developed skills through that that no other projects provide.
“I love being able to make and buy outfits that I can show off to the public. It’s taught me confidence and stage presence. I really enjoy that project,” she said.
Brandon Beaman found a sense of accomplishment through sewing and the fashion review as well. His submission this year — a red velvet tuxedo he made and modeled during the competition on Tuesday — won him grand champion.
“It was really rewarding to see that I put in three weeks of work to make my outfit, and it got rewarded. It actually meant something to someone else, too,” he said.
Winning aside, the most exciting moment of the upcoming week for Beaman is arriving at the fairgrounds just as the fair starts, and seeing all of the projects he’s submitted.
“It’s really gratifying to see what I’ve been working on all summer and all winter, paying off and being rewarded,” he said.
4-H helped unlock and intensify an interest in Audrey Culp as well. She is active in food preservation and baking, stemming from an interest that grew throughout her childhood.
The organization allowed her to hone her baking skills and compete against others through her creations.
“In my family, baking is something that you do for holidays, so it was something I could learn more about and make new recipes, trying new things. Then I can share those things with my family,”
Along the way, Culp also found a parallel passion: recycled crafts.
“It was something that I just started on a whim, but it’s been one of my favorite things to do. Repurposing something to make something new, to give them a different perspective, has been really fun and interesting,” she said.
Throughout 4-H, projects and activities are broken into dozens of different categories. For everything that doesn’t quite fit in one of those, there’s the “do your own thing” category.
Emma Elliott found the flexibility and independence those projects offer to be exhilarating. She has taken the time to thoroughly research and assemble are report on a myriad of different topics: fashion from the 1900s to now to influential people to this year’s project on First Ladies from Eleanor Roosevelt to now.
“It’s been great to research and learn about things I’ve never been able to learn about before, in a more creative way, instead of just doing something for school that I wouldn’t necessarily love to research,” she said.
Elliott’s project on what happened to all of the candidates who had lost presidential elections earned her Grand Champion status.
“Everyone always talks about the people who win, but not about all of the people who lost,” she said. “I think that was my favorite project.”
Not every 10-year 4-Her has a chance to enjoy their final fair experience, though. Drake Buchanan is in the middle of basic training for the U.S. Air Force, and is unable to be back. Missing it is a disappointment, though his parents have promised him pictures, he said.
Being part of the organization has been a key part of his development and maturation, Buchanan said. Without 4-H, he never would have had such a wide variety of experiences.
As such, staying in it was less of a commitment and more of an opportunity, he said.
“4-H exposed me to so many different things that I wouldn’t do in my ‘normal’ day. I can cook, I know about photography, I’ve gardened, can do basic woodworking, etc.,” he said in an email. “I didn’t really think about ‘sticking’ to 4-H. It was something I just wanted to do. 4-H is a great way to get exposed to many skills we just don’t get taught anymore.”
AT A GLANCE
10-year 4-H members
Joseph Aldrich
Bryce Armstrong
Brandon Beaman
Krista Blahunka
Emily Bryant
Drake Buchanan
Dalton Burton
Isaac Carter
Sophia Copeland
Ellen Coryell
Audrey Culp
Dylan Duncan
Emma Elliott
Samuel Fenner
Mason Giddens
Tory Gregory
Laura Guerrettaz
Bryce Hughes
Evan Johnson
Jenna Kelsay
Kya Lasley
Florence Lee
Ethan Locke
Mallory Marion
Colton Marlin
Kylee Marlin
Sadie Morris
Cordale Morrison
Joseph Ott
Lilly Pryor
Jonathon Sisson
Eliza Smith
Emma Smith
Cecelia Taylor
Aaron Weesner
Cody Wells
Hailey Williams
Samuel Woods
