4-H Members Do Well at County Fair: More Orcas Support Welcome

Last in a series of articles
By Brigid Ehrmantraut

Saturday was the last day of the San Juan County Fair!  Everyone is very tired and pleased with themselves. The main events centered on culmination: the Small Animal Round Robin, 4-H livestock and still-life auctions and the 4-H awards.  The champion chicken race winner was Margot Van Gelder from Orcas!

Small Animal Round Robin was won by:  senior, Mackenzie Brown; intermediate, Brigid Ehrmantraut (yes, me); and junior, Hanna Howard.  The overall high point belt buckle was won by Mackenzie Brown, though all were within a few points of each other.  Past winners Grace Thompson and Kelsey Guyer (both from Orcas) judged this year, as did Lopez poultry expert Tyler Cochran, who is finishing his last year of 4-H.

The livestock auction went well, but without as many bidders as usual or as many entries.  I think that over all however, prices were up from last year. My chicken eggs went for about $150, which seemed about the mean for eggs.  Any animal that the bidder didn’t want to keep got turned back to be re-auctioned at the end of the auction, with all of the second buyer’s money going to the 4-H program. Thanks to Tom Pasma the 4-H auctioneer and to everyone else who helped make this possible!

4-H awards were fun, almost everybody came away satisfied.  Some awards were: herdsmanship (feeding the animals in your barn and answering peoples’ questions), over all high point for each project, showmanship winners, sportsmanship trophies, contest plaques, scholarships, gift certificates, small cash prizes, etc.

There was a noticeable lack of Orcas business or private sponsors for trophies and awards in comparison with the rest of the county.  If you are interested in sponsoring something, contact Cindy Gauthier at the main San Juan county 4-H office at 370-7662 cgauthier@wsu.edu Cindy can also give you information about joining 4-H!

The fair always needs more entries!  Orcas was well represented in non-4-H open class entries in written word, photography, horticulture and agriculture, Sheep to Shawl and fiber arts.  I hope you enjoyed the fair and will come again, or come for the first time next year!