SOUTH DAKOTA STATE FAIR

Families Prepare for State Fair

EIDE Farmily Continued

walks her pigs several days a week and plays music in the barn where she keeps them, so they are not startled by noises at the fair. Bobbi says State Fair is one of her favorite weeks of the summer.

“I have been going to the State Fair since I was born. I love it because I get to see my 4-H and FFA friends and I like hanging out with my family there,” Bobbi said.

Bobbi’s mom, Gerri, can relate. “State Fair was a very special time with my dad and sister. My dad always took us to the fair every year. It was a time to showcase what I had been working on all year –whether it was showing beef cattle or other projects in 4-H. And it was an opportunity to meet and make new friends and connect with friends from past years.”

When Gerri and her husband, Shon, started their family, she wanted to pass on the tradition her dad, Eugene, started with her and her sister, Dawn. Her family camps at the State Fair with other 4-H and FFA families just like she did as a kid. And she said getting involved in 4-H and FFA provides her children with much more than showmanship skills and ribbons.

“It opens a whole world of opportunities and exposes them to learning some very important life skills, like teamwork, thinking on their feet and connecting with others,” Gerri said. “Networking with people across the state as a 4-H or FFA member will help them in whatever profession they go into.”

In addition to showing livestock, all three Eide kids also participated in speaking competitions. In fact, her son, Tanner, no longer shows livestock because he found he enjoyed other projects and fair activities more and he wanted to put more time into those.

“Participating in 4-H and FFA events helps them find their strengths, interests and what they truly enjoy doing. If they aren’t exposed, how do they know,” Gerri said.

She added that because they get to do

Continued from Page 12

MICHALEK Family Continued Brookings.

“4-H gave me an outstanding opportunity to build relationships,” Garrett said. “As a kid, I was relatively shy. Involvement in 4-H gave me communication skills and helped me get comfortable speaking in public and overall communicating.”

In 2017, Garrett put these skills to work when he applied for the Mitchell Technical College and the Build Dakota Scholarship. The full ride scholarship not only covers all tuition and tools, but it also connected Garrett with his current employer.

His brother Colton also credits 4-H and FFA experiences for helping him receive a 2023 Build Dakota Scholarship. And as Colton prepares for his last year showing at the South Dakota State Fair, he says that in addition to communication skills, he has met and made many friends through involvement in 4-H and FFA. And often, he’s learned more from losing than winning.

“Losing is probably the best learning experience because I become a better person after losing. It makes me grow. Last year at State Fair I was showing a sheep and I did pretty bad. As I listened to the Judge talk about all the sheep that placed ahead of mine, I thought, ‘I may have lost, but I’m learning to be humble.‘”

During the 2023 fair, Colton will show sheep, goats and horses, but when he and his brothers, Garrett and Ryder, first started in 4-H, they showed rabbits. And even though their dad, Marty, had been involved in 4-H as a kid, the brothers say their first few years were a learning experience for everyone.

“Just watching the confused/baffled look on Dad’s face because the entire game had changed since the time he was a kid and involved – so, we all tripped and stumbled to the finish line together,” Garrett said.

Marty added that he was reminded of the power of involvement in 4-H during the first rabbit show he took his sons to.

“One of my favorite 4-H memories is our first rabbit show,” Marty said. “I was trying to figure out how to enter everyone, and all the sudden, I see the kids running by with a piece of cardboard that they pulled out of a dumpster. They saw that everyone else in the building had signs for their rabbits. By the time I got everyone registered and got back to them, they had come up with a name for their 4-H club and made their own sign. It is amazing how mature 8 and 10-year-olds can be when you let them.”

On the drive home, Marty said the newly named CKKRC Rabbit Club held its first meeting and elected officers. They named their club after the first initial of founding members’ names.

Since that first show, the family has spent countless hours showing meat goats, dairy goats, cattle, hogs, sheep and rabbits. “I remember a couple years ago on our way home from the State Fair, we counted up and Colton was in the show ring 112 times,” Marty said.

Getting animals ready for the fair is a daily task, explained Mandy. “Our kids take care of the animals because Marty and I both work off the farm.”

When their children were young, Mandy and Marty would create feed boards for them to help remind them of each animal’s feed ration. “Today, I don’t need to worry about this because they take care of it,” Mandy said. “I went to go pick up feed because we ran out the other day, and I didn’t even realize which feeds they were feeding because they’re so involved in feeding their own animals.”

“It’s 365,” added Marty. “It’s every day. There is no off-season because these animals rely on them for food and water. So, caring for animals instills a major sense of responsibility.”

And this sense of responsibility and work ethic transfers to other areas of life, explained Ryder. “4-H taught me that if you put in the work, you can accomplish anything. I love working hard. I’m not afraid to work and I will get up and do what needs to be done.”

At 16, Ryder already has college football and basketball coaches interested in him, and his goal is to play Division 1 college ball. To get there, he makes the 280-mile roundtrip drive to Sioux Falls three days a week during the summer for weight training and acceleration workouts. He gets up at 3:30 a.m. three days a week and drives 52 miles