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Our 4H fair is next weekend - July 25-29.

DS has 5 projects this year, three of which are completed and ready to go. He is still working on his entomology case and finishing up his rocket.

 

DD has 3 projects and is a reluctant worker this summer. She has been baking scones for her cooking project. They are delicious. I need to find a way for her to donate them somewhere. She is still working on her vet science display. She did take some initiative last week and scheduled a vet appointment for her cat. Woohoo!

 

With 12 days to go I think we are in pretty good shape.

 

How are your 4Hers coming along?

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Doing okay here. My daughter has 3 projects.

dog project still meets weekly(our fair is not until the 3rd full week of August). Do not have a date for the dog juding yet(they are judged by an AKC judge before the fair). She has not finished her poster yet to accompy the book work but did complete the WHOLE book again in 1 year.

Cat project: Doing well, needs to finish another poster and she needs to finish the scrapbook and she wants to make a clay project for it yet but book work she is done.

Vet science: Not bad but has a few more to finish in the book.

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Our fair is not till mid Sept.

 

DD8 will be showing her chickens, ducks, rabbits, goat, calf and dog and riding in the horse show.

 

DD17 ( last fair :crying: ) will be showing a market steer, market hog, young meat goat doe, chickens and her goose. She may ride in the horse show if her back is not acting up.

 

They both enter baked goods and crafts/ art/ photos too.

 

These are things we work on all year and especially leading up to the fair. We don't do a lot of other stuff - posters, books etc. I think I will get going on that with DD8 for next year. Unfortunately, our club leaders don't encourage or organize much of that kind of thing.

 

(Hehe, I am the horse club leader! But I just took it over and am still learning what I can do differently from the last leader!)

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I'm so glad I stopped by the boards today to hear this discussion. This is our first year and I'm still a little hesitant! Our 4H judging started last Friday. DD9's first official judging takes place this afternoon. I was going to back out at the last minute, but she really wants to go through with it. So her 2 sewing projects (wearable and non-wearable) will be judged this afternoon. I can't take her since I have to go to work and so my sister is taking her. i'm anxious to see how it all turns out! Foods judging (preparation and preservation) for her is tomorrow morning. Photography poster (color pictures) is Wednesday morning. Then DD7 and DD6 have 3 projects to enter in mini-4H. Do you all just feel like you LIVE at the fair during the week of judging and project entry? I guess I was so naive to think that the kids just dropped off their projects and then picked them up after the fair was over. LOL! I am nervous about the judging. Mostly I'm afraid of the kids having a bad experience and of it taking up our whole day. KWIM? Perhaps someone with experience could chime in for me and let me know what to expect and that it will all be fine. DD9 is just sure that if she doesn't get a blue ribbon that means that she did a bad job. I've tried to tell her otherwise, but to no avail, so unfortunately there may be several tears shed tonight over the sewing projects!

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Do you all just feel like you LIVE at the fair during the week of judging and project entry? I guess I was so naive to think that the kids just dropped off their projects and then picked them up after the fair was over.

 

:lol: Oh my, we actually DO live at the fair all week. Well, I'm there from about 7:00 AM till 10:00 PM every day. We set up cots, a mini fridge, a crock pot and food station. The kids all spend at least one night and sometimes two, DH takes several days or half days off work. This is all due to the livestock we have entered and the need to care for them, bathe them, show them etc. We do just drop off our craft projects/ baked goods and leave. Our fair does not allow you to be in the building during judging. We go and look at the ribbons after the judging. That's it, so I can't advise about how your DD's day will go, we don't do that here. I can say that in general, the judges try to look at the age of the child compared to the quality of the work, so a younger child who put any effort in at all should get a blue ribbon. Good luck!

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We live at the fair, too. We plan it that way. This year we are helping with pre-fair clean up in the food stand, then we have the main fair day, volunteer days in the food stand and then post-fair clean up. I love it!

 

Our 4H extension does conference judging for all projects. The 4Her takes their project in, speaks with the judges and receives their rating (blue, red, white) immediately. The projects are kept and displayed for the weekend. When the conference judging is completed the judges meet to determine best of show and state fair candidates. State fair awards are awarded after lunch and we are always excited to return to the show buildings to see who won. Best of Show awards are presented during the evening fashion revue and Federation inauguration ceremony. They do it that way to guarantee attendance. :)

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Most counties use the "Danish" system of judging, so the child will get a blue, red or white award--sort of a grade. In addition to that, they are judged against the other entries in their unit. So the child might get a first, second or third place in Junior Unit 1 Cake Decorating. Then the top two entries will go up against the other first and second place winners. So, the child might get a blue award, first place in the unit and Reserve Champion overall. In CO, only Grand and Reserve go on to State Fair. There, the same thing happens again.

 

 

I am orignally from CO and love how the state runs their 4H program. We are currently living in IL and I just don't understand why they do certain things here. I am sure people are sick of hearing "In CO we would....".

 

I love the State Fair grounds in Pueblo.

 

I hope your children do well and get to go to the State Fair.

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We live at the fair, too. We plan it that way. This year we are helping with pre-fair clean up in the food stand, then we have the main fair day, volunteer days in the food stand and then post-fair clean up. I love it!

 

Our 4H extension does conference judging for all projects. The 4Her takes their project in, speaks with the judges and receives their rating (blue, red, white) immediately. The projects are kept and displayed for the weekend. When the conference judging is completed the judges meet to determine best of show and state fair candidates. State fair awards are awarded after lunch and we are always excited to return to the show buildings to see who won. Best of Show awards are presented during the evening fashion revue and Federation inauguration ceremony. They do it that way to guarantee attendance. :)

 

It just kills me how different 4-H is from place to place. Are you talking about O'Rama? or County Fair? Because county fairs are not even a 4-H event to be accurate. We have the kind of judging you are talking about at County O'Rama of which there is then a district and state O'Rama. This is where the fashion review, performing arts, project illustrated talks and demonstation, bait casting, beebee shooting, bicycling all take place. Is that what your talking about? I'm just currious.

 

If you ARE talking about a county fair, how does that work? Sorry to hijacking the threat, but I am just curious.

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It just kills me how different 4-H is from place to place. Are you talking about O'Rama? or County Fair? Because county fairs are not even a 4-H event to be accurate. We have the kind of judging you are talking about at County O'Rama of which there is then a district and state O'Rama. This is where the fashion review, performing arts, project illustrated talks and demonstation, bait casting, beebee shooting, bicycling all take place. Is that what your talking about? I'm just currious.

 

If you ARE talking about a county fair, how does that work? Sorry to hijacking the threat, but I am just curious.

 

I know what you mean about the differences from place to place. For a national program you would assume some sense of cohesiveness but the variabillity in 4H is astounding.

 

This is our county's 4H Fair. This is the only showing opportunity for our 4Hers; unless you are selected as a state fair delegate then you can choose to show in the State Fair in August.

 

The County Fair is a separate fair altogether, has nothing whatsoever to do with 4H, and is in August.

 

I have never heard of an O'rama.

 

--Quick rundown-

Our 4H year begins Sept. 1 and runs through Aug. 31. Kids sign up for their projects in the fall and receive their project manuals in January. Most clubs meet once a month and almost all projects are completed independently. The only special groups we have are for horse bowl and hippology. There are no special project leaders - if you sign up for sewing you do sewing on your own. If you choose to do a bucket calf you do it on your own. You have 7 1/2 months to complete your projects. The county Extension office runs our 4H program and they distribute all of the manuals, newsletters and the 4H Fair booklet. The 4H year culminates in the 4H Fair in July. The General Show is on Sat. morning, the dog show is Sat. afternoon. Rocket launch in Sat. evening followed by the Fashion show and 4H Federation board inauguration. Sunday is the the horse show. The remaining livestock shows are Mon.- Wed. All books and paperwork are due in early August and the new year begins in Sept.

 

Now it's your turn...

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We are not participating in the fashion review. I really wanted us to but I just don't know what to expect. So we aren't. I also wanted to enter some sewn items in the adult open class, but it just is really hard to know what to make when you don't really know what is being "judged". So I guess this year will be our learning year! LOL! I am having a really hard time with finding answers to my questions locally--I guess it all seems kinda wishy washy and then reading how varied things are. I think I've been a little bit disappointed b/c we joined a club that didn't meet regularly--um, or at all! Then I found out through the grapevine that we should have joined such and such club. Wish I had known sooner...hope I can join that club next year!

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I also wanted to enter some sewn items in the adult open class,

 

Do you mean you were going to enter your regular county fair?

 

As far as I know 4H has an age limit of 18 years old.

 

In our area you can switch 4H clubs at any time during the year. We switched a couple of years ago. The club we were in was 99% girls and DS wasn't too thrilled about it. We transferred to a club that is closer to 50-50.

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This just in: DD9 just came home beaming! She got a blue ribbon for her skirt and a blue honor for her pillow sham! So now I am assuming we have to go to the fashion review to find out about state fair selection? Do they just announce it and then we will get details on how that process works?

 

Our fair has an open class for adults...that's what I was thinking of entering.

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I know what you mean about the differences from place to place. For a national program you would assume some sense of cohesiveness but the variabillity in 4H is astounding.

 

This is our county's 4H Fair. This is the only showing opportunity for our 4Hers; unless you are selected as a state fair delegate then you can choose to show in the State Fair in August.

 

The County Fair is a separate fair altogether, has nothing whatsoever to do with 4H, and is in August.

 

I have never heard of an O'rama.

 

--Quick rundown-

Our 4H year begins Sept. 1 and runs through Aug. 31. Kids sign up for their projects in the fall and receive their project manuals in January. Most clubs meet once a month and almost all projects are completed independently. The only special groups we have are for horse bowl and hippology. There are no special project leaders - if you sign up for sewing you do sewing on your own. If you choose to do a bucket calf you do it on your own. You have 7 1/2 months to complete your projects. The county Extension office runs our 4H program and they distribute all of the manuals, newsletters and the 4H Fair booklet. The 4H year culminates in the 4H Fair in July. The General Show is on Sat. morning, the dog show is Sat. afternoon. Rocket launch in Sat. evening followed by the Fashion show and 4H Federation board inauguration. Sunday is the the horse show. The remaining livestock shows are Mon.- Wed. All books and paperwork are due in early August and the new year begins in Sept.

 

Now it's your turn...

 

Wow! That's fascinating! We start our year Oct. 1. We have "community clubs" and "project clubs". You can be in as many clubs as you want. I know kids in 6 clubs. I think it's kind of rediculous. Community clubs are just that. They are focused around a particular geographical area. You can do any project you like while in them. For example, you don't HAVE to be in rabbit club to do rabbits - you can do that in your community club. All projects are done individually also, but no "booklet" or "manuals" are given out and what exactly a "project" consists of I still don't know and I've been in 4-H for 5 years and am now a leader! No one ever checks to see if a kid completed a "project" or not. Our county project clubs are horse, rabbit, dog, shooting sports, livestock and goat. My kids are only in horse club and rabbit club. We dropped our community club because it was just too many meetings. Still, in project clubs, no one helps kids "do" a project or even explains what is expected. The meetings are boring and we just discuss "new business", "old business" and what's comming up etc. Not much fun going on and we loose kids because of this. I am trying to change this in the horse club. In our horse club, I do hold practices for the horse shows and we try to put on a couple of clinics each year and go on a couple of trail rides. The kids also practice for hippology and horse bowl.

 

Now, for competition, there are many choices. Spring Livestock show, Spring horse show, district horse show, state horse show, state fair, County fair ( not 4-H fair - we don't have that), O'rama, and other shows or jackpots sponsored by individual clubs.

 

O'Rama is where kids present illustrated talks, demonstration talks, fashion review, singing and musical tallent, also the "Three B's",bait casting, bee bee shooting and bicycle riding. Winners of each category go on to district and if they win there, go on to state and nationals. Every county, district and state has an "O'Rama" and then there is National O'Rama. Maybe some states just call it something else? I'm betting that some of the activities at your "4-H Fair" are O'Rama activites and count towards becoming eligible at district, state and nationals. Just a guess. Our O'Rama does not have livestock, horse or dog shows. Do me a favor and ask your county 4-H project co-ordinator if they know what O'Rama is. I am dying to know! I would be SHOCKED if they didn't. ( I just called our 4-H office to double check myself and she tells me that yes, O'Rama is a National competition!)

 

Anyway, MOST kids who show animals, do so at the County Fair. It is the big show of the year, even though it is NOT a 4-H show. MOST of the 4-H awards our kids get are from showing animals at the county fair. I think it's wierd. Some kids go on to show at the Arkansas State Fair - again, NOT a 4-H show, but you get 4-H awards for it. You do not have to win at county to show at state. Anyone can enter the State Fair. Our State 4-H does put on a spring livestock show that only 4-Hers can be in. Can your kids not enter items and livestock at your county and state fairs if they want to?

 

In addition to all this, some kids do Record Books or what they now call Journals. Those are due in Jan and document a kid's project for the previous year. You have GOT to have Journal competition - no? This is also a national competition and can lead to scholarship money for High school seniors. That's pretty much it!

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I googled 4H orama and the first three pages were for the state of Arkansas (I quit looking after those three).

I asked my DH if he has ever heard of an o'rama and he said no. He was in 4H until he turned 18 and his mom was a long time 4H volunteer in CO. Neither of them have heard of the o'rama.

 

I will ask our 4H execs. tomorrow. You have piqued my curiosity.

 

I can't recall of any district competitions but I know the kids can show at state. General projects are selected through the counties and then the state judges determine whether the projects receive a participation ribbon or a superior award. There are no Best of Shows at the state level. Anyone can show in the state 4H horse show but you need to qualify to show your dog.

 

In our area 4Hers can show at the county fair but there is so little overlap in the general projects that it is difficult to find a category to enter. My DS tried to enter his entomology collection a couple of years ago. It won the 4H Fair and the 4H State fair but didn't even qualify for a ribbon at the county fair; there simply wasn't a category it fit into and the judges didn't know what to do so the y dq'd him. Go figure. If you do the agricultural projects, like corn, pigs, cows, etc, then it is easier to show at the county fair.

 

I was hoping my DD would keep working on 4H long enough to qualify for one of the scholarships, but her interest is waning. She is on the Federation board and participates that way (excellent for developing leadership skills) but she is losing interest in the general projects and that is where the money is. She had expressed interest in applying for the 4H house at our state university. I hope she finds that spark of interest again. I am told it is a great experience.

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I just looked through the national 4H site and cannot find any references to 4H o'rama.

 

Mmmmmm...curiouser and curiouser.

 

Yeah, I'm going to ask higher up at my extention office too. Weird! When do they do the Fashion Review, sing, play an instrument, and give illustrated talks or demonstrations? THAT would be your equivelant of O'Rama. I am wondering if "O'Rama" is just a state thing even though our extention secretary told me it was national.....I will find out tomorrow.

 

Also, a kid in our club entered his entemology collection in the exhibits at county fair and won best in show! Too funny.

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Aaaahhhhhh!!!!

 

Thank you for listening - that was a moment of panic that only another 4-H mom could appreciate.

 

We have all of our 4-H shows and exhibits during our county fair. We are taking 1 cow and 7 dairy heifers and 3 dairy goats. The kids will also enter all their sewing and cooking and crafts. The fair goes for a week starting 7/26. We'll be moving the camper in on Saturday and then all the livestock on Sunday. Then we've got a full week of dirt and grime and cow hair and allergies and laughter and tears and teeny tiny camper showers and great memories. We pack up and move everything back home the next Sunday.

 

But - and this is a big but - we are no where near ready! Oy - so much to do...

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Yeah, I'm going to ask higher up at my extention office too. Weird! When do they do the Fashion Review, sing, play an instrument, and give illustrated talks or demonstrations? THAT would be your equivelant of O'Rama.

 

The Fashion review is during the 4H fair in July, illustrated talks are on a special night in March, and singing and playing instruments comes in during Share-the-Fun (a talent night where clubs give short skits based on a yearly theme) in April. So it sounds like we don't have an O'rama. Our parts of a wanna be O'rama are scattered throughout the year.

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The Fashion review is during the 4H fair in July, illustrated talks are on a special night in March, and singing and playing instruments comes in during Share-the-Fun (a talent night where clubs give short skits based on a yearly theme) in April. So it sounds like we don't have an O'rama. Our parts of a wanna be O'rama are scattered throughout the year.

 

That's so weird. Maybe Arkansas just put all this stuff together in one day and called it O'Rama!??? Dumb name if you ask me. But I will tell you one thing. Everyone in AR (the kids and parents) thinks that O'Rama is a state and national thing! Hehe.

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I am orignally from CO and love how the state runs their 4H program. We are currently living in IL and I just don't understand why they do certain things here. I am sure people are sick of hearing "In CO we would....".

 

I love the State Fair grounds in Pueblo.

 

I hope your children do well and get to go to the State Fair.

 

If IL runs their program like IN, I'd go there in a minute. My dh is sick of hearing, "Well, in IN we would........". And my sister has always told me what a superior 4-H program MD had to IN when we were in 4-H. She doesn't talk about MD's program like that any more, at least to me.

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Wow! That's fascinating! We start our year Oct. 1. We have "community clubs" and "project clubs". You can be in as many clubs as you want. I know kids in 6 clubs. I think it's kind of rediculous. Community clubs are just that. They are focused around a particular geographical area. You can do any project you like while in them. For example, you don't HAVE to be in rabbit club to do rabbits - you can do that in your community club. All projects are done individually also, but no "booklet" or "manuals" are given out and what exactly a "project" consists of I still don't know and I've been in 4-H for 5 years and am now a leader! No one ever checks to see if a kid completed a "project" or not. Our county project clubs are horse, rabbit, dog, shooting sports, livestock and goat. My kids are only in horse club and rabbit club. We dropped our community club because it was just too many meetings. Still, in project clubs, no one helps kids "do" a project or even explains what is expected. The meetings are boring and we just discuss "new business", "old business" and what's comming up etc. Not much fun going on and we loose kids because of this. I am trying to change this in the horse club. In our horse club, I do hold practices for the horse shows and we try to put on a couple of clinics each year and go on a couple of trail rides. The kids also practice for hippology and horse bowl.

 

Now, for competition, there are many choices. Spring Livestock show, Spring horse show, district horse show, state horse show, state fair, County fair ( not 4-H fair - we don't have that), O'rama, and other shows or jackpots sponsored by individual clubs.

 

O'Rama is where kids present illustrated talks, demonstration talks, fashion review, singing and musical tallent, also the "Three B's",bait casting, bee bee shooting and bicycle riding. Winners of each category go on to district and if they win there, go on to state and nationals. Every county, district and state has an "O'Rama" and then there is National O'Rama. Maybe some states just call it something else? I'm betting that some of the activities at your "4-H Fair" are O'Rama activites and count towards becoming eligible at district, state and nationals. Just a guess. Our O'Rama does not have livestock, horse or dog shows. Do me a favor and ask your county 4-H project co-ordinator if they know what O'Rama is. I am dying to know! I would be SHOCKED if they didn't. ( I just called our 4-H office to double check myself and she tells me that yes, O'Rama is a National competition!)

 

Anyway, MOST kids who show animals, do so at the County Fair. It is the big show of the year, even though it is NOT a 4-H show. MOST of the 4-H awards our kids get are from showing animals at the county fair. I think it's wierd. Some kids go on to show at the Arkansas State Fair - again, NOT a 4-H show, but you get 4-H awards for it. You do not have to win at county to show at state. Anyone can enter the State Fair. Our State 4-H does put on a spring livestock show that only 4-Hers can be in. Can your kids not enter items and livestock at your county and state fairs if they want to?

 

In addition to all this, some kids do Record Books or what they now call Journals. Those are due in Jan and document a kid's project for the previous year. You have GOT to have Journal competition - no? This is also a national competition and can lead to scholarship money for High school seniors. That's pretty much it!

 

Our 4-H is a bit more similar to your's. We have both community and project clubs. But our community clubs are more community service oriented. And our community club suffers from being too new (no experienced members to teach the youger ones), an overbooked leader, and very small. The clubs also do a lot of club projects, which earn the clubs money.

 

Our 4-H is also year-round, with many training and judging opportuities occuring during the school year. But some of the judging does occur at the fair, so unless the parent is really up on dates, newbies probably miss having their clothing judged or ?. Oh, and we self select for the state fair, and you register for the state fair before the county fair registration. You have to beg for project books, even if you're willing to pay for them. I'm getting the idea that they're so afraid of driving off potential members that they're afraid to give guidence, AKA telling them what to do.

 

Record books aren't due until the year's end, which does relieve a lot of the last minute stress. Oh, and these books are more essays than records of the projects, it's not for the engineer types. And older students need to prepare a job resume each year. Good idea, but where's the training?

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Here in NH, we also have community and project clubs. Kids can belong to as many clubs as they like. Many clubs don't have project meetings, but our community club meets nearly every Friday during the school year. We have screened project leaders, and we do use the CCS curriculum for ideas but not for more than that. Our county has separate animal Quiz Bowls, Fashion Revue & Textiles Show, and County Activities Day with demos, action exhibits, public speaking, and illustrated talks. Winners (rosette winners) of those events go to State Activities Day to compete for a place at Eastern States Exposition. We also have county-level events like the Food Show.

 

Clubs can enter an exhibit in the county fair, and livestock exhibitors also show there, but there is no state fair. There is a "style show" at our fair, but it's not the main sewing event for the county. Our county fair is next week. We will be exhibiting sewing projects, rockets, photography, foods, eggs, vegetables, and crafts. We are finishing up a woodworking/heritage arts stool project (with a woven top), and county records. My boys will also be showing sheep for the first time. We will set up the exhibit on Tuesday, and the judges will come in on Wednesday morning. The projects are judged on the Danish system, but aside from the style show and livestock events there aren't "best of show" type ribbons on general projects. The fair opens to the public on Wednesday afternoon.

 

All the fairs that I know of have an open class for adults to enter items, which is independent of the 4-H program.

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