Wednesday, August 22...Day 0

Yay! The fair begins tomorrow! Today was the unofficial first day of the fair and it was very busy for me. The General Livestock Judging Contest was this morning along with the Consumer Decisions Contest. I was working at the livestock contest, and we got a little bit lost on the way back from the Northstar Ballroom on the St. Paul U of M campus. Thankfully though we found our way back to the fair and 4-H building and are all safe and sound. Also today, all the livestock participants have showed up. The day was extremely hectic and "overwhelming" according to chaperone, Sandi Schmidt of Scott County. She recalled that trailers and trucks, cows and pigs were everywhere. Although, she conceded that it is a great experience for people from the cities. "Oh my gosh! There's a cow!" is something that Schmidt hears all the time in the barns. Which reminds me...today was the first time ever that one of our own State Ambassadors, Lynn, met a cow. She went down to the barns and helped Emily (a fellow ambie) clean her Dairy Steer. Another chaperone from Scott County, Dennis Schoenbauer said he had a fantastic time just watching the kids. And of course the participants have already begun having fun at the fair. Travis Sweeno of Carlton county, who brought rabbits, said, "The five minutes I've been here have been good." Sweeno is one of the lucky 4-Her's who are staying in a trailer on the fairgrounds. He likes having no wake-up calls. I ran into two 4-Her's from Goodhue county who have returned to the fair for their second year. Joseph Hoffman York, and Quinn Jager really like the DNR fish pond and enjoyed seeing everthing from last year. An anonymous 1st year participant from Scott County (Josh) when asked what he brought to the fair responded with "sleeping bag, pillow, change of clothes, food,candy hidden under my bunk..." and continued on, but Sadie Weintjes answered my question seriously with dairy winter calf. Scott County 4-Her's can be fairly ridiculous. the end!

Marsha Bartholoamay