By STACY CAMPBELL
Cottonwood Extension District
In about one month, the Ellis County Fair will be up and going. If you have never bothered to come out to the fair I would ask that you give it a try, just once. Who knows you might see a long-forgotten friend or even the next-door neighbor. And have a good visit, while eating some of the county fair cuisine and listening to some music on the Midway. There are several free events and entertainment to take in each year and as always, you can wander around at your leisure and see the exhibits that 4-Hers and the general public have made and grown. If you have young children or grandkids the poultry, rabbits and livestock are always a hit and it might bring back some memories of your own of days gone by.
There will be flyers and brochures distributed around town in local businesses highlighting the fair events. Local media outlets will be advertising the fair, and the Ellis County Fair Board has a web site at www.ellisco.net then hold your cursor on the Government tab.
One of the culminating events to cap off the fair is always the 4-H Premium Livestock Sale in which the 4-Hers sell their Market Animals and Champion Food items to the public. If you have never experienced fresh home fed beef, pork, mutton, poultryand even rabbit and goat you are missing something. The champion baked items are always a delight.
Anyone whether you are a business owner or individual can come out to the fair and support the local 4-Hers by purchasing, partnering with others to purchase or adding money onto any sale animal or baked good. If you just want to support a 4-Her and don’t want or need the fresh meat, no problem. You can bid on the animal and pay a premium price at the sale for the animal and the animal is still the responsibility of the 4-Her.
If you think about it, everyone is a winner in this situation. The buyer can have abasket full of baked goods or a freezer full of fresh meat that has been raised with some extra TLC and also receive recognition for supporting our youth!
The youth of the county can use this money towards eventual college tuition, the purchase of an automobile; school clothes the next project animal and feed, etc. I think you can see where this is going, in other words--the hard-earned money by the kids will show back up in the county and state economy. Sounds like local and state economic stimulus as well as making you feel good about supporting the efforts of the youth of Ellis County!
The Ellis County 4-H Livestock Sale will be held on Saturday, July 23rd at 6:00 p.m. A livestock purchasers’ meal will be provided at 5:00 p.m. If you need more information on the sale contact the Ellis County Fair Board President Jill Pfannenstiel 785-639-2177 or Vice-President Justin Scheck 785-650-9969. As with everything else purchasing animal projects and feeding them has increased in price for the 4-Hers as well. So please come and support the youth of Ellis County!