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4-H club returns from fair proud

Local 4-H members went to the 75th annual Provincial Winter Fair in September. Boundary "C" club reporter Marijka van Kuik filed this story.
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Dawson Harpur with his awards from Reserve Champion 4H Steer.


“For those of us in the 4-H world, the Provincial Winter Fair is like the Stanley Cup Finals in hockey.”

The Boundary “C” 4-H Club came home from the Provincial 4-H Winter Fair with trophies and ribbons in our pockets. We worked hard as a team and we came home proud.

The Provincial 4-H Winter Fair is hosted by the Yellowhead 4-H Club at the North Thompson Fairgrounds in Barriere. The fair has been running for 75 years with a goal of promoting agriculture. This year’s fair saw over 275 4-H members with projects of beef, horse, photography, clothing, sheep and cavy/guinea pig. It is an opportunity to compete against the other clubs; it’s a chance to make new friends and connect with old ones. To add some entertainment, there is the Top Hand Ranch Competition and bronc riding.

The five days spent at the Provincial Winter Fair are always a highpoint in our 4-H year. Most of the members and their families camp in the parking lot. This year was wet and rainy, but it didn’t dampen our enthusiasm. Most of the members were up at six o’clock every morning, feeding and preparing their animals for the competitions.

The beef members this year really showed what they could do. Dawson Harpur took Reserve Champion 4-H Steer, and Austin Frankie won Junior Beef Judge. Rylonn Elliot took first prize in Junior Showmanship, while Sara VandenBorn won top herdsman. Together, they won Best Group Of Three Steers. Beef/clothing member Hanna Harpur took first for her educational display called “Up-Cycling.”

In Barriere there are horse clubs, riding english and other clubs, like ours, riding western. This year there was even a miniature horse club! In the junior horse judging, Jade Fossen won second place with her sister Adele Fossen in fifth. In Junior Showmanship, Adele won first with Ben MacFarlane in second. In the semi-finals, Adele won second and Ben took third. Adele won sixth overall for horse showmanship. Ben also won third in both Junior Equitation and Junior Pleasure with Jade on his heels in fourth place. Ben inspired a new award this year, the True Grit award. He had fallen off his horse but got back on and completed the class, he was given a feed bucket by the horse show coordinator.

Our club is the only sewing club represented at the fair, so we help to mix things up a bit. We do a fashion show on Saturday night, and are happy to have the opportunity to showcase our projects. We also did some judging and Jade Fossen took first place with Analia van Kuik in second. At the Monday morning auction Greg MacDonald stole the show modeling the Christmas apron Antonia Bergandahl had sewn to sell. The Fossen sisters and the van Kuik sisters were pleased with the prices their quilts sold for.

Our first year photography group did extremely well and came home with some ribbons. Marijka van Kuik took second in junior showmanship and fourth overall.

We are wrapping up this year and planning for the next year of 4-H. If you are nine as of Jan. 1, 2014 and are interested in the 4-H program, please contact Greg and Jen MacDonald at 250-446-2189.