The buildings are quiet; equipment and shelving stored for another year; and 4-H families, fair board members and Extension staff are trying to catch up on rest from a fun, competitive, and very humid week at the Barnyard Mardi Gras 2025 Barton County Fair!
While we will all take a few days to recuperate, we are also thinking about things to improve for next year as well as preparing for entries for the 2025 Kansas State Fair.
In most 4-H categories, 4-H members who are 9 and older and received a purple ribbon on their exhibit have the opportunity to enter the Kansas State Fair.
If you attended any part of the Barton County Fair – Thank You for engaging in a fun community event. I hope that you made time to walk through Expo III and see the animals that 4-H members work hard with all year. I hope that you also made time to walk through Expo II and look at the Arts and Crafts, the Woodworking, the Foods and Nutrition, and many more projects that help 4-H members develop skills related to those projects as well as skills for communication, organization, and time management.
If you participated in the Open Class entries – Thank You for sharing your talents with our communities. I love walking through the quilts, fiber arts, and art area, in particular. Wow, we have an abundance of talented citizens!
If you attended the Premium Auction – Thank You for supporting 4-H Livestock projects. For many 4-H members, the premium you provide helps to fund next year’s project and their educational path after high school. Several of our top Foods & Nutrition 4-H members had the opportunity to provide a baked good at the auction and a portion of those funds help with maintenance of the 4-H Educational Buildings on Highway 281 which are used for club and 4-H Council meetings, archery practice, and other 4-H activities.
In addition to all of these things, Sunday afternoon also closed a chapter as I move into a new role in the Cottonwood Extension District to focus on Family Resource Management. Yes, I’ll still be involved in the fair but will let a new 4-H agent take the lead.
And so, as they say in the movies, That’s A Wrap!
Keep learning. Keep showing grace and kindness!
Michelle Beran is the Family and Community Wellness agent in the Cottonwood Extension District. For more information on this article or other 4-H Youth Development resources, email Michelle at mberan@ksu.edu or call Cottonwood Extension District – Barton Office at 620-793-1910. All Kansas Extension education programs and materials are available to all individuals without discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.