It’s been a very good 4-H year! Barton County 4-H members did well in several areas at the Kansas State Fair.
Barton County was represented at the State 4-H Fashion Revue by Kallie Peterson, South Bend Jolly Workers 4-H Club; Heather Schneider, TLC Twisters; and Thomas Harmon, Barton County 4-H Horse Club. Kallie and Thomas both received purple ribbons and were in the call backs for champion consideration. Heather participated in the Constructed Garment Revue.
Thomas and Rebekah Harmon qualified at District Horse Show and participated in the State 4-H Horse Show. Thomas placed 7th in Senior Showmanship and Rebekah placed 10th in English Pleasure. They also participated in the trail and costume classes.   
Mattie and Katie Shafer, Ellinwood Energizers, were participants in the 4-H/FFA State Livestock Show. Mattie placed 4th and 5th in Meat Goats and 4th and 8th in Sheep. Katie placed 4th in Meat Goats, 6th in Market Steers and 8th in the heifer class. In the 4-H Dairy Goat show, Katherine Hicks received three blue ribbons and Mathew Hicks received 3 three blue ribbons.
In Dog Showmanship, Katelyn Reh earned 99 out of 100 points, received a purple rating and was in the final drive for overall grand champion. Tiffany Schneider received a blue ribbon in showmanship and Kayleigh Bitter received a blue ribbon rating in dog agility.
At the state 4-H rabbit show, Hailey Hicks received purple on her rabbit and a red in rabbit showmanship. Katherine Hicks received purple in rabbit judging, blue in showmanship and received two blues, three reds and three whites on her rabbits. Mathew Hicks received a purple, a blue and three reds on his rabbits, a blue in showmanship and a red in rabbit judging.
The 4-H Photography Division has the largest number of exhibits with nearly 2,000 photographs. A photograph taken by Thomas Harmon will be displayed in the Governor’s office during the next year and will also be used by the 4-H Foundation. Haley McCormick’s photo was chosen to be in a Photo Traveling Collection. Molly Kaiser and Alaina Straub each had a photo selected and reserved for use by the State 4-H Office. Other members exhibiting and receiving purple ribbons were Dalton Dicks, Anna Frizell, Kayleigh Bitter and Desmond Noah. Members receiving blue ribbon ratings were BreAnn Anshutz, Cody Wondra, Rebekah Harmon, Robert Frizell, Brinttain Noah, Emily Fox, Hannah Mauler, Kayleigh Bitter, Payton Mauler, Desmond Noah and Thomas Harmon. Brinttain Noah, Ryan Niles, Hannah Mauler, Morgan Kaiser, Sarah Hammeke and Tiffany Schneider received red ratings.
Another very large department is the foods project with over 1,300 exhibits. Haley McCormick, Rebekah Harmon, Cal Kaiser, Molly Kaiser, and Cody Wondra received purple ribbon ratings on foods. 4-H members receiving blues were Alyssa Habash and Grace Hoskins. Paige Koehn, Sam McGinnis and Kayleigh Bitter placed with a red ribbon rating. Kirk Reisner received a white.
In Clothing and Textiles, the purple ribbon winners were BreAnn Anshutz, Anna Frizell and Alaina Straub. BrayLynn Anshutz, Hailey Hicks, Grace Hoskins, Allyson Kaiser and Alexa Straub received blue ribbons. Haley McCormick received a red rating.
The Fiber Arts department combines crocheting, knitting, quilting, weaving, needle arts, macrame and ethnic arts all into one. Parker Smith received a red on crochet. Alaina and Alexa Straub received blues on knitting and Grace Hoskins received a red.    
Arts and Crafts exhibits are not judged at the State fair and each county is limited to only a few exhibits. Morgan Kaiser displayed a mirror and spoon creation that was named RSR Best of Show and will be displayed at Rock Springs Ranch for the next year. Other Barton County exhibitors were Anna Frizell, Desmond Noah and Alexa Straub.
BreAnn Anshutz wheat variety plot display received a blue ribbon in state competition. Kayleigh Bitter received a blue ribbon on her flower exhibit. In the Horticulture division, Kayleigh Bitter received a blue on a culinary herb and Desmond Noah received a white on vegetables.
Ryan Niles received a purple on his educational wildlife display. In the woodworking division, Caleb Straub received a blue ribbon and Thomas Harmon placed with a red. Payton Mauler received a white on a wildlife notebook. Dalton Dicks received a white on a shooting sports poster. Kyle Rziha received a red on his rocket exhibit.
4-H Banners exhibited at the Kansas State Fair were designed by 4-H members in South Bend Jolly Workers, Great Bend City Slickers, and TLC Twisters 4-H clubs.
The Barton County photography and poultry judging teams also placed well at state. The senior photography team placed 2nd in the state. Anna Frizell placed 2nd in the senior division and Kayleigh Bitter placed 9th. Other team members were Thomas Harmon and Brinttain Noah. The intermediate team placed 10th. Rebekah Harmon was the 12th place intermediate individual.  Other team members were Molly Kaiser, Katherine Snapp and Liberty Marsh.  
In the poultry judging contest, Heather Schneider was the 2nd place individual in the senior division and is alternate to attend the national contest. The senior team of Heather, Mikey Hughes and Katherine Hicks placed 6th in the team competition.
There were over 9,000 4-H exhibits and 4-H members involved in events at the Kansas State Fair.
Berny Unruh is the 4-H and Youth Development Extension 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