4-H Fun Day held at fairgrounds
4-H Fun Day at the Coshocton County Fairgrounds on April 3 was definitely a day of fun and free stuff, including hot dogs, popcorn, cookies, drinks and handouts with some great information about local clubs, how to join, projects to choose from, 4-H camp and more.
ODNR brought animal pelts, shotguns and archery so that people try it. 4-H is not just animals and farming although that is a good occupation in this area, it also offers education and hands on experience for just about any occupation you could think of.
Dee Woodward Wells said, “Basically what we are doing is exploring every project area. We want youth that maybe always takes a cat project to be able to talk to people who take different areas of projects to explore different things and showcase what 4-H is all about. It’s not just about market animals, it’s not just about pocket animals. We have so many different things that 4-H offers from self-determined to photography to sewing to all kinds of food projects. That includes woodworking, first aid, all kinds of things like natural resources. The 4-H world is endless. We want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to explore things in a fun way. With a self-determined project, any area of interest that you have, you can make it into a project. From string art, to reptiles, to hedgehogs, music, paper crafts, babysitting, skateboarding, you can make it a project. It’s awesome. For example, sewing, if your project is not in one of the books, you can make it a self-determined project. The girls that are here with their cookies used the self-determined and made a business out of it. 4-H is so much more. We wanted to open doors. We teach life skills and community involvement. Archery, fishing, welding, gun safety, even horseless horse – you don’t have to own a horse and you can learn all about them.”
Ridgewood High School sophomore Jonathan Woodward, president of Raising Champions 4-H Club has been raising market turkeys for seven years as well as taking archery for seven years and shotgun for five years. “My turkeys are my favorite project,” he said. “Ever since I’ve been little I have wanted to have turkeys and 4-H has allowed me to do that. I showed at the state fair, nationals, county fair, everywhere. I got grand champion at the Ohio State Fair in turkeys twice, grand champion here once and reserved here at the Coshocton County Fair twice.” Woodward built his own barn for his turkeys when he was in the fifth grade and two years ago he added an addition to the barn. “It’s strictly for my turkeys and only my turkeys,” he said. “I used my own money. I used my turkey money and my cow money to do that.”
Shiloh Kinzel, a sixth grader at Warsaw has been showing market hogs for four years and dairy cattle at the Coshocton County Fair. She got reserve for her hog the second year. She is thinking of going into jackpot shows with her hogs. Jackpots shows are for any size hog of any breed with people from all over the U.S. “I breed sows now and I think it’s fun,” she said.
Clare Bintz chose horses and goats as her project. “My family raises goats and a little bit of Kiko goats (meat goats), so I took meat goats for a starter project. Last year I started taking horses because I really enjoy horses and I like to barrel race.”
For more information, contact the OSU Extension Office at 740-622-2265 to learn more about local clubs.
Category: Clubs & Organizations
