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Seconds after the 4-H poultry showmanship competition ended Friday and Claire Wrobleski was told she had taken the grand champion title in the senior division, her bird, "Coyote," took flight and landed in the rafters, discharging feces matter below. Doug Horner, the rabbit barn superintendent, was able to climb up and get the bird down. Poultry Judge Gordon Cummings smiled and told her that she was lucky the bird took off after the show was officially over. He said a similar thing happened to another 4-H member years ago and it cost her the title. This was the third year in a row for the South Side Sparks member to take the poultry grand champion award.

The 16-year-old Wrobleski was the only competitor in the senior division, which doesn't necessarily mean getting the top award. There were only three junior competitors - sisters Cooper Spurr, 11,  and Kendall, 9, and John McNamara - all of the South Side Sparks. Just prior to the judging, Cummings told the audience that last year he was bit by a duck, but Cummings told McNamara that he wouldn't hold that against him.

McNamara went through the poultry showmanship contest with the confidence not normally seen in a 9-year-old, as he did in his other competitions - horse, sheep, pheasant, cat, bee keeping, and a snake - and came away from his first 4-H poultry show with a blue ribbon. "His confidence is wonderful when he has really done the focused work, so with his sheep, horse, birds, and home ec non-animal projects, he knows his stuff and loves to talk about it," said Carissa, his mother. He took a purple ribbon with "Tanner," a corn snake that the judges weren't exactly pleased that he removed from his cage. His mother said he's already planning projects for fair 2023 and for his pocket pet, he wants to show his tarantula.

"The kids did wonderful. I'm excited to see so many new young members and families involved. They get many opportunities to learn responsibility through their projects," said Montana State University Sanders County Extension Agent Juli Thurston. Almost 120 kids from the six 4-H clubs participated in this year's fair in the eight animal divisions and the nearly 100 divisions of the static divisions. This was the first of many years for the 4-H to have any dairy cows in the competition. Nine-year-old Trace Browning went home with a purple ribbon for showing "Daisy," a Dexter/mini Jersey, at Saturday's show. Like his brother, Colt, the South Side Sparks member also showed swine in the junior class, along with 13 others. 

Swine numbers were slightly down, but again had the biggest showing in the animal divisions with 33 pigs. There were a dozen pigs in the senior class and five in the novice class. Garth Parker was the grand champ in the senior swine showmanship class, followed by Solveig Nygaard of the Whitepine Happy Workers. Audrey Fairbank, also of the Happy Workers, took grand champion in the junior swine, followed by Addyson Deal with the reserve. Sheldon Frank of the Trout Creek Mavericks club took the grand in the novice swine show.

This was the first time in about 15 years that the 4-H had a variety of bird species in the mix. McNamara had two different types of pheasants and the Spurr girls each had a turkey, "Tom" and "Jerry," they had entered in the meat division. Cooper nabbed grand champion honors with her turkey, cat and silkie chicken, while Kendall took the reserve in the same three classes. She also won grand champion in the junior Small Animal Round Robin Showmanship (rabbit, poultry, goat, and cat) competition. Wrobleski won the small animal senior division while Isabella Buchanan of the Whitepine Happy Workers won the reserve. 

The Large Animal Round Robin Showmanship – (horse, beef, dairy, swine and sheep) grand in the senior division went to Katelyn Christensen of the Hot Springs Wranglers. Reserve went to Sydnee Wilson of the Trout Creek Mavericks. In the junior class, grand went to Addyson Deal of the Whitepine Happy Workers, followed by Kara Christensen of the Wranglers for the reserve.

Rabbit numbers were down again, according to Horning, who's been the superintendent for six years. He said it's been awhile since they've had an English lop, this year shown by South Side Sparks member Brock Ryan, who took a blue ribbon with "Diamond Destiny." There were no senior competitors this year. Katherine Wrobleski was awarded the championship with "Dixie," with Andrew Frank of the Trout Creek Mavericks taking the reserve. 

Barn Superintendent Raelyn Cox said sheep and goat entries were down. There were only two goat entries, both seniors, and seven sheep competitors, all in the junior division. The grand champ for the senior goat contest was Lucy Foyil of the Whitepine Happy Workers with Isabella Buchanan, also of the Happy Workers for the reserve. Isabella Hansen was the reserve champ for the junior showmanship. Hansen, a member of the South Side Sparks, came up with this year's fair theme, "Blue Jeans & Country Dreams." The grand champ sheep showman in the junior class was Ayla Rehbein of the South Side Sparks.

There were only eight horse entries in this year's fair, most belong to the South Side Sparks. The senior horseman showmanship went to Sydnee Wilson. Reserve went to Madison Chojnacky of the Mavericks. The junior grand champ was Addyson Deal of the Happy Workers and the reserve went to Brooklyn Crain of the South Side Sparks. In the beginner class, the grand went to Hannah Warnes of the South Side Sparks and the reserve went to Isabella Pardee of the Mavericks.

Beef numbers were up this year with 18 market steers, said barn superintendent Richard Jackson. Wilson also won grand champion in the senior beef showmanship competition with Katelyn Christensen taking the reserve. Kara Christensen went home with the grand championship honors in the junior beef showmanship with Marina Tulloch of the Hot Springs Wranglers taking the reserve.

There were no dog competitors again this year, but there is a 4-H dog show scheduled for Saturday at Trout Creek. There were three cats entries, two more than last year, all in the junior division. 

Ed Moreth

TURKEY PRESENTATION – Judge Corey Booth of Plains talks with Trout Creek Mavericks member Andrew Frank about his turkey tail mount.

Eleven judges gathered in the Home Economics Building for almost four hours to look over the 286 static entries, ranging from cookies to a bench made from pickup truck tailgate. Karen Dwyer, a 4-H volunteer for over 30 years, said there were some amazing items entered by the 4-H'ers this year. She added there were nearly 100 more entries than last year, including 50 items by cloverbuds alone. Cooking and baking was the biggest class with 49 entries, followed by photography with 37 entries. The smallest class was one entry in the family adventures division submitted by Jaisynn Etienne of the Heron/Noxon Explorers, in which she took a blue ribbon. 

One of the most unusual projects Dwyer has seen was a "spaghetti cake," a dessert that looked like a bowl of spaghetti, by Easton Deal of the Whitepine Happy Workers. It was cake covered in white chocolate and candy meatballs. Dwyer said that even the bowl could be eaten. Judges gave it a purple ribbon. "I've seen some unique cakes before, but not like this one," said Dwyer.

One of the largest projects, done by Garth Parker of the Hot Springs Wranglers, was an eight-foot long, four-foot wide, and five-foot tall steel rack for holding metal, entered in the welding division, netting Parker a purple.