Kids show ingenuity, creativity, quality at fair

"There's more to 4-H than just animals," said Karen Dwyer, a volunteer who has helped with the home economics and non animal projects of the 4-H at the fair for more than 30 years. Even now, as a volunteer, she is surprised at the ingenuity and imagination from the 4-H members from across the county.

There were more than 900 entries last Thursday afternoon in the fairgrounds home economics building, where nearly a dozen judges looked over the kids' work - woodworking, paintings, photographs, metalwork, jewelry, baked goods, engineering technologies, health and plant science, food and nutrition - a task that took some three hours.

The competition finished with 22 grand champion ribbons and 21 reserve champion awards in the nearly two dozen categories. "We saw a lot of improvement in their entries this year," said Dwyer. Judge Dave Wrobleski was especially impressed with a member of the South Side Sparks. Colt Browning's entomology entry was a 20-inch long bumble bee made of paper mache, cling wrap, balloons, and wire. "That is a nice one," said Wrobleski, who judged the environmental and natural science entries and gave the boy a purple ribbon in that class.

Juli Thurston, who heads the 4-H program in Sanders County, also noted the quality of projects this year, pointing out a 50-inch long crochet "Giant Chicken" by Marina Tulloch, which nabbed her a purple ribbon for the entry. The items ranged from two three-inch hair scrunchies by Ayla Rehbein of the South Side Sparks and Lilamae Stephens of the Hot Springs Wranglers to a six-foot long rabbit hut by Cloverbud Colton Sauter of the Thompson Falls Mountaineers.

The top displayers in the sewing class were Brooklynn Crain with the grand champion junior class and Solveig Feiro with the reserve. Ailie Avilla took the grand in junior knitting and Katherine Wrobleski took the junior reserve. In quilting, Crain took the junior grand and reserve.

Emma Rehbein nabbed the grand in gardening in the junior class with John McNamara taking the junior reserve. McNamara was also the grand champion for the junior class in photography and the junior reserve champion in the animal science interview. The grand senior welding award went to Mackenzie Tulloch. She also won grand in photography.

The junior reserve award in photography went to Daniel Warnes. Sheldon Frank took the senior reserve. Frank also captured the grand senior ribbon in woodworking. Andrew Frank took the grand junior. Addyson Deal won the senior reserve in woodworking and Sawyer Doble took the junior reserve.

Callie Cano of the Future Farmers of America club in Hot Springs took a reserve championship ribbon in the senior FFA class for her woodworking project, a wooden bench with a steel Ford pickup tailgate back. She was among five FFA members who competed at the fair.

Moriah Champneys won the grand junior ribbon with her electricity entry. Andrew Wrobleski was the grand senior winner with his baking entry,with Elsie Myers taking the junior grand. Alida Feiro won the reserve senior and Samantha Hoffstetter took the reserve junior in baking. Hoffstetter also nabbed the grand and reserve with her cooking entries. The cake decorating competition in the senior class went to Alexis Russell. The grand junior went to John McNamara and the reserve senior was Delaney Gerhard.

In the shooting sports competition, Aiden Williams took the reserve ribbon in the junior class. For the western heritage category, Sage Doble was the grand champ for the junior class. The reserve junior was Dechlan Neeson. Titus Myers was the grand champion in the junior sport fishing competition and Elsie Myers was the reserve junior. Elsie Meyers was also the reserve champ in the outdoors adventures competition.

For the visual arts contest, Melodie Cook was the senior grand and the reserve champion. The grand junior winner was Dillyn Doble with Ailie Avilla taking the reserve. Kara Christensen took the grand senior championship for her leatherwork entry. The grand champ in the junior class was Isabella Nottnagel and Caydence Etienne won the reserve ribbon in the junior class. In the communication and expressive art category, the top junior exhibit went to Nottnagel.

"Members in 4-H surprise us at every fair with unique projects, as well as good quality work and fun interviews in every project," said Dwyer, who was recognized on Sunday by being made an honorary 4-H member.

"I remember when Sanders County started a candy making project that was popular. No matter what the project area is, members are actually learning life skills - planning, goal setting, having a sense of completion, accepting constructive learning from interview judges, and feeling pride in their finished products," said Dwyer, who said she loves being involved with 4-H. "The fun of fair is displaying members' work to the public. Every fair project has a story, involving creativity, problem solving, and plenty of emotion, from frustration to elation to hilarity to great family memories."