The LaSalle County 4-H Show and Junior Fair kicks off today, with plenty of exciting activities, entertainment, and displays continuing through the weekend. We recently spoke with Toni Ann Pienta and Shasta Hladovcak from Ottawa’s University of Illinois Extension Office about what visitors to the fair can expect to see, alongside any special plans for this year. First, Toni explained how our local fair came to be.

“The Farm Bureau here in Ottawa purchased the property with the intent to offer youth opportunities. They purchased that in 1957, and it was soon after then 4-H started holding their 4-H exhibition show. And then the collaboration came into play, with the Junior Fair Association and LaSalle County 4-H coming together,” she said.

The Junior Fair Association and LaSalle County 4-H work together to ensure the fair runs smoothly. Their partnership helps make the fair bigger and more exciting for participants and members alike. Next, we discussed what sorts of activities and entertainment will be at the fair this year. We can only cover so much of the fun here, but check the event listing for the full schedule of events and exhibits.

“The regular ones that Junior Fair sponsors are the rodeo, truck and tractor pull, the derby. They also sponsor, they’re doing some fun things, a bucking bull, a dunk tank, and one of those blow-up challenge activities. But incorporated throughout all of the days, our 4-H clubs do some good old-fashioned activities like watermelon eating contests, scavenger hunts, volleyball games, bags tournaments, basketball tournaments… So one of our clubs is brought up all in what we would really like to emphasize and highlight. We do have military coming for the day on Thursday, and we have a special ceremony at 3 o’clock, it’s called Meet Us at the Pole. And everyone on the fairgrounds meets at the pole. And we have someone over the mic singing the national anthem. And we all sing along. And the military is present. They’ll do a flag raising. And it’s just a very special event. We did that a few years back. And we’re happy to have them back to commemorate America’s 250th birthday,” Toni said.

The theme for this year’s fair is “4-H Celebrates America’s Birthday!” A variety of patriotic activities and other events are planned for the occasion, so we asked what else is going on for the 250th.

“The entire fairgrounds, though, will be decorated in theme. The clubs are assigned buildings and segments of the fairgrounds that they clean, maintain, and they’ll plant flowers, they decorate. I’m going to be seeing it. It’s a treat. Beautiful transformation. So I’m excited to go see as it’s progressed. But that is a sight because they take on a lot of responsibilities, the youth do,” Toni said.

The 4-H Fair is the result of a year’s worth of work from the participants. We asked what other local programs and projects that 4-H’ers are involved in.

“The fair is a huge event once a year, but Extension, the 4-H clubs are involved all year round. We also do school enrichment programs, community programs. While embodying the head, heart, hands, and health of 4-H. So that’s our big motto. So the 4-H are doing leadership activities throughout the year. They do career readiness. They do civil service acts. They do workshops all year round. All the things to help them become ready for life. Some of our programs, we do the Food Action Academy, which is a food insecurity program to teach the kids how to create an action plan to actually help the community throughout. We, last year, did a drone program focused on agricultural technology. We’ll actually have a drone demonstration during the fair as well,” Shasta said.

“So our 4-H youth will be doing that demonstration with a little help from adults. That was a big thing last year that we collaborated with Compeer. We earned a grant from them to be able to purchase our drones and to establish that program. We do a ‘passport to the world international night.’ That is something that we used to do before COVID and we’re kind of bringing it back. Last year was our first one in about five years approximately. So that’s where the clubs will actually research a country, create a display, and we meet for an evening and the kids travel throughout the room with their own passport, and learn all about the different countries and get a tasty treat as they attend too. And that’s open to the public, not just to 4-H. We also have embryology programs. We have STEM programs, natural resources. We really work well with our environmental education. We’ve got an ag educator, and she is really involved with our program as well,” she said.

“In representing all these, we go to libraries, schools, we are in parks, we are wherever the community wants and or needs us. It’s the educational staff, and it’s also clubs will go, and they will do promotional events and activities as asked. They’re oftentimes asked to bring petting zoos, but wherever we’re asked to go, we do our best to go and be present, whether it’s community events and promotion, or educational opportunities,” Toni added.

As our interview with Toni and Shasta came to an end, we discussed the overarching goals and ideas surrounding the 4-H Fair. Importantly, Toni emphasizes just how much variety is at the fair.

“At the beginning of the year, they join their club, they select a project and that project is something that they maybe had an interest in and they were already semi-knowledgeable or ‘Hey, I know nothing about it and I want to learn.’ We then give them a project manual, and they work within their club and independently, and we provide them other educational resources. And then they work on that throughout the year. And then come fair time, they say, ‘Hey, do I want to exhibit this? Do I feel it’s exhibit worthy?’ It’s the culmination of all their hard work, so that they can then be conference judged and have a learning opportunity through that. But also, we like to say a peer comparison is part of life. You know, they’re lined up in all of their vision areas. And if they’re grouped in their visual arts and they see, they learn from just that as well. So it’s truly a culmination of their hard work. And there’s nothing more beautiful, to see these kids lugging their exhibits up the hill. Whether it’s rainy, muddy, 150 degrees, they are there. And a lot of people used to view the fair as just livestock. Many activities and general projects for everybody to come and see and observe and really participate in. That’s the basis and foundation of our existence, but it is confusing. We still have people say, ‘I thought you had to have an animal or live on a farm,’ and I think I’m very surprised that that is still the thought, because again, from drones or robotics, and the aerospace, and the cooking, and photography, I mean… We can go on and on. Every letter of the alphabet has a project,” Toni said.

Clearly, there’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to the LaSalle County 4-H Show and Junior Fair! Enjoy the fun from July 9th – 12th, at the LaSalle County Fairgrounds. We even made a trip out yesterday, to speak with someone from the Junior Fair. We met with Liz Mackey, a LaSalle County Junior Fair Board Member. She gave us an overview of the event from the Junior Fair perspective.

“The fair represents family tradition, that you will find that the majority of our Junior Fair exhibitors, their parents, their grandparents, their great-grandparents have exhibited here on the fairgrounds. That the fair itself, it has evolved, but we do go back to the same traditions and some of the stuff that was here when our parents were here, that the showing of the livestock.”

“It might be a competition for the kids, but when they walk out of the showroom, they shake hands, they compliment the winners, and the winners and losers are playing together. Afterwards, you will find that the older members are working with the younger members, sharing their knowledge because so many of our younger exhibitors have been mentored by the older, and they just keep passing it down through the generations. So that’s what the Junior Fair probably means to the people, what does it mean to the community? That is a very wide category as to, we as Junior Fair board members probably look at as for the kids. But it’s also a way to promote agriculture to people that don’t get to see AG, that there is a lot of groups that come through,” she said.

“And then you’re going to have the ones that just come for the nighttime entertainment. They come because they follow truck and tractor pulls or rodeos or demo derbies. But the majority of the people that come, come to see the projects and to support the kids. And that’s what the Junior Fair Board is all about, is supporting the kids and doing things for the kids.”

The LaSalle County 4-H Show and Junior Fair is full of entertainment and educational opportunities alike, where attendants can see what our community has to offer and show off. We also got to hear more about the plans for celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday, including decorations for the fair’s theme.

“We kick off the fair with the singing of the National Anthem… Every night before our evening entertainment, we have young kids, exhibitors that volunteer or get drafted to sing the national anthem that we start off every nighttime entertainment with the national anthem. On that factor, if you wander the fairgrounds, you’re going to see a lot of flags and decorations. For the 250th, we’ve got flags on some of the rental equipment. Most of the clubs have incorporated the flag into their theme, that the 4-H clubs do have different areas on the ground and have decorated… All the different buildings or areas, clubs, are in charge of decorating and maintaining and those areas. So it’s really cute to walk around and see the ideas that they’ve come up with,” she said.

What an opportunity to celebrate the 250th by engaging with the community and seeing all their hard work! We asked Liz what she hopes that tourists and visitors will get out of a trip to the fair.

“A chance to watch these kids show. It’s so much fun to see the hard work and just the way they cooperate, and they work together. And everybody helps each other out and that’s fun to watch. And, um, the sportsmanship. And I know that I had a gal reach out to me earlier, and stated this is one of her favorite shows to come to, because of the factor of how polite our kids are, that you’re going to be on this fairgrounds. And the young people get a bad rap, probably from the general public,” she said.

“And our kids are good kids, and I think when I say our, I think we probably claim them all as our kids. Our families are wonderful, the volunteer methods that we had. Last night, we were working at putting the dumpster totes around the fairgrounds, and I ended up with three different young people that came and said, ‘we’ll help you.’ And I would hope that visitors would see that, that this is a fair, that the final decisions rest with the fair board. But, it’s the volunteers, the parents, and the kids, that it’s their fair and they take ownership of it, they’re proud of their fairgrounds.”

The 4-H Fair is a great way to experience what goes on in our community, to learn about it, and enjoy time together. We also got to hear about some more of the events and opportunities present at the fair.

“Here we have the activity tent and it keeps growing. As to the businesses that come in or other volunteer organizations, that I am excited that this year, Soil and Water is back. The LaSalle County Soil and Water Association, they usually do some type of recycling type project, and something that ties in with nature. One year she had stuff that tied into with the bees, and talking about how to keep the bees together. This Illinois Department of Natural Resources is here and is going to be talking about some of the things that they do and start abroad,” Liz said.

“We have the conservation police here with their trailer and they have various stuffed animals, wildlife. They got a lot of cool things in there, and one of the officers is going to be here off and on throughout the weekend, and he’ll have the pelts laying out on a table that the kids sit. Visitors to the fair can touch them. We have another group that’s coming in and they’re talking about doing the old-fashioned fishing pond, where you reach in and you grab a fish out. That is one of the ideas that’s going to be going on. We’ve got a group that’s doing an obstacle course for the kids this year, and one of the things that the fairgrounds is known for, is that the LaSalle County Farm Bureau runs a lemonade stand,” she said.

“And the kids that do the obstacle course stand a chance to win a free lemonade shake-up. The corn pit down there has, there’s corn all over already… to play in for the kids… We’ve got three or four more groups that are coming in that are going to have fun things for the kids to do. Don’t just come for the nighttime entertainment. Come to see what else is on the fairgrounds because throughout the day we have the activity tent going on. Some of the 4-H clubs have different things going on. Watermelon meeting contest. Three basketball tournaments. And other basketball [games]. We’re going to have a volleyball tournament between 4-H clubs this year. It’s worth to come out here early, stay late. Stay all day, enjoy the different food stands that are here… there’s lots to do on the Fairgrounds!”

Many thanks to Toni, Shasta, and Liz for taking the time to speak with us. Stay tuned for more on the LaSalle County 4-H Show and Junior Fair. But the best way to experience it, is to head to the LaSalle County Fairgrounds (1578 4-H Road, Ottawa, IL), and check out the exhibits and activities!