The Barton County Fair got underway Wednesday, with 4-H and open-class exhibitors delivering items to the Expo grounds west of Great Bend. The first judging of live animal exhibits was the 4-H Rabbit Show, followed by the 4-H Poultry Show.
Sixteen-year-old Eve Rider from Ness County was judging a rabbit show for the first time. She’s had plenty of experience before a judge, having won the championship for rabbit showmanship at the Kansas State Fair. Her sister Daphne was there to lend a hand with lining up the entries and weighing the rabbits.
English Spot bucks and does were the first rabbit species to come before the judge. Most of those came from the same family, siblings DJ, Jayla and Kiera Wyant, members of the Eureka Homesteaders 4-H Club. Eighteen-year-old Jayla Wyant, the oldest of the three, said she’s been showing rabbits since she was 9 years old and the others started when they were 8. In addition to English Spots, the Wyants showed Holland Lops, Mini Rex and Rhinelander rabbits, and have entries in poultry, photography, posters, rockets, food and fashion.
Their mom, Aimee Wyant, said she was only in 4-H for a year or two as a youth but they have become a 4-H family. “We got started in archery and rabbits,” she said. “It just expanded from there.” They started with three rabbits and are up to 45, along with chickens, ducks and peacocks.
Expo III was filled with animal entries by Wednesday afternoon. Lindsay Prescott from the Ellinwood Energizers 4-H Club took the opportunity to practice walking her bucket calf, Milly, around the Aaron’s Repair Arena.
Linsday explained that her grandparents Keith and Connie Miller provided the orphaned calf when its mother died of old age. Milly was about one month old at the time. “We’re going to keep her,” she said, noting Milly’s role in the future will be to produce more calves.
Over in the goat pens, a meat goat named Sweetheart was willing to nuzzle up to any child that wanted to stop by and pet her. “She loves to cuddle,” said a parent of Lilly Linsner, the Busy Buzzers 4-Her who entered the bottle-fed goat in the fair.
The fair will continue through Sunday. The WEEE Carnival and live concerts will take place Thursday through Saturday. See the fair schedule online at bartoncountyfair.com.
Celebrity Showmanship panel named
Six Barton County “stars” from all walks of life have been chosen to compete in the Celebrity Showmanship event. This fair event has contestants showing a pig in front of a judge at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Aaron’s Repair Arena in Expo III.
“These are people that potentially have never shown livestock at all,” said Michelle Beran said from the Cottonwood Extension District. In this case, they’ll be showing a market-weight pig, approximately 500-600 pounds.
They will get some tips from the male or female 4-Her who wins the Senior Showmanship award.
This year's celebrities are:
• Karisa Cowan, principal at Lincoln Elementary School in Hoisington
• Brandon Anderson, Great Bend city administrator
• Mike Urban, mayor of Claflin
• Joe Henry, business director of the Great Bend Recreation Commission
• Aaron Fuller, sports director of the Great Bend Recreation Commission
• Dr. Roxann Stiles, Clara Barton Hospital, Hoisington
