Did you have a chance to visit the showcase of 4-H talent in 4-H Centennial Hall at the Kansas State Fair? If not, put that on your bucket list and plan to visit the Fair next year. You will be impressed with the exhibits on display.
The photography division has a prominent space in the 4-H Hall - right down the middle.
Photography has the largest number of exhibits at the state fair with nearly 2,000 exhibits. Bonny Boultinghouse’s photo was chosen to be in a Traveling Photo Collection for the next year. Logan Evers, Robert Frizell, Thomas Harmon, Audrey Likes, Katherine Snapp and Alexa Straub all had photos selected for use in Kansas 4-H Foundation publications. Members receiving blue ribbon ratings were Kayleigh Bitter, Hannah Mauler, Thomas Harmon, Rebekah Harmon, Paige Koehn, Nicole Likes, Ryan Niles, Brinttain Noah and Colten McPherson. Red ribbons were awarded to Maryann Whaley.
Another very large department is foods and nutrition with over 1,200 exhibits. Robert Frizell received purple ribbon on foods. Receiving blues were Mikey Hughes, Anna Frizell, Hannah Mauler and Betsy Snell. Zeb Hughes and Johnelle Moshier received a red rating. Steele Brack received a white.
In the State Fashion Revue, Kallie Peterson and Kyle Blakeslee were in the buymanship fashion revue and received blue ratings. Heather Schneider modeled in the constructed review and also received a blue rating. In Clothing and Textiles, the purple ribbon winners were Bonny Boultinghouse and Anna Frizell. BreAnn Anshutz and Aubrey Snapp received red ribbons.
Arts and Crafts exhibits are not judged at the State fair but some exhibits are chosen for display at state 4-H events. Kayleigh Bitter, Karly Brungardt, Augustus Corbett, Logan Evers and Anna Frizell and Heather Schneider arts projects were all displayed at the state fair.
Kayleigh Bitter and Logan Evers both received purple ribbons on their Home Environment projects. Logan Evers received a blue on his electric project. Caleb Maneth and Woodson Corbett placed with a white rating with their woodworking projects.
In the vegetable division, Logan Evers received purple on his peppers and blue on his cherry tomatoes. Kayleigh Bitter received red on her cherry tomatoes. In crops, Logan received purple ratings on his sorghum heads and a gallon jar sample of Soybeans. He received blue on ears of corn, gallon jar of wheat, soybean bundle and jar of corn. Kyle Blakeslee placed 3rd in the Wheat Variety Plot Display competition and BreAnn Anshutz placed 5th with her wheat display.
4-H Banners exhibited at the Kansas State Fair were designed by 4-H members in South Bend Jolly Workers, Busy Buzzers and Hoisington Jets 4-H clubs.
Receiving purples in the state 4-H dog show was Tiffany Schneider. Katelyn Reh, Kayleigh Bitter received a blue ribbon rating and Steele Brack received a red rating. Thomas Harmon and Rebekah Harmon placed 7th in the State 4-H Horse show in the Pleasure Pairs class.
Thomas also placed 7th in English Pleasure.
Katherine and Mathew Hicks received blues in the dairy goat show. Katherine received a red rating in the poultry show. In the State 4-H Rabbit Show, Katherine received one purple and Best of Breed, two blues, a red and a white. Mathew received 5 blues, Opposite Sex Best of Breed, one red, and two whites. Alexa Straub received a Blue and Best of Breed on her rabbit. In rabbit showmanship, Mathew placed with a purple and Katherine placed with a blue.
Berny Unruh is the 4-H and Youth Development Agent in Barton County. She is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune. She can be reached at 620-793-1910 or at bunruh@ksu.edu