When we think of 4-H and the County Fair we think of our wonderful youth showing their exhibits, animals and perhaps animal auctions. The Ziegler Building is full of art, photography, sewing and other displays that have been entered by our youth. We beam with pride that our youth have been engaged in their projects throughout the year and the week of the fair is a celebration of the year-round passion, talent, frustration, and tenacity that our youth put into their exhibits.
4-H youth and adults contribute so much more that tables of talent for fair-goers to look at. 4-H volunteers contribute hundreds of hours prior to fair in preparation of the grounds (one club in particular purchasing flowers in spring, planting the planters by the main entrance and making weekly treks out to the fairgrounds to water and tend to the plants so they are at peak bloom during fair). Other youth and adults paint benches or fencing that has weather over the winter; mulch is spread; barns are spruced up; poultry cages assembled and organized, and so on.
The 4-H Silent Auction Committee is working behind the scenes for months writing letters to potential donors, storing hundreds of items in a storage and then packing and transporting items to the fair grounds and setting up the displays for fair week. During fair week, they patrol the hall to make sure items are secure and potential bidders have their questions answered. Finally, on the last day of the fair this group of 4-H volunteers make phone calls to auction winners and then sit at a booth into Sunday evening until the items are all picked up and paid for. The Silent Auction money raised will be used for 4-H programming throughout the year, keeping costs down and sometimes creating no cost events possible so all 4-H youth have the potential to have a new experience as part of their club or project.
The volunteering described so far just sound like work! Volunteering at the fair is fun too. Being with friends and family while making an impact is fun too. One 4-H volunteer, Ariah Gdowski, a seventh grade 4-H member volunteered to sing the National Anthem as the opening to the Fair’s Tractor Pull event! The Action & Promotion Booth is a fun time which several families gave their time to in order to promote 4-H through a craft or activity. A fun photo booth offered passing families a quick fun free memory of their time at the fair. Not to mention an opportunity to promote 4-H and September’s Open House.
There are 4-H families and youth that give time to the fair as building sitters, judges’ assistants, food stand workers, silent auction workers, archery demonstration presenters, and interviewees on local radio stations all of which contribute to the promotion and success of the county fair.
Thank and celebrate volunteers when you can. Invite others to join a committee as one of the four H’s is ‘hands for larger service’ which builds the support behinds the scenes so we can keep our youth engaged and successful in 4-H.
Contact Ron Jakubisin, 4-H Educator at ron.jakubisin@wisc.edu
