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County fair a 4-H'ers haven

The Williams Mountaineers 4-H Club is working hard in hopes of showing well at the 4-H event of the year — the Coconino County Fair at Fort Tuthill in Flagstaff.

Tiffany Johnson, left, tattos the ear on a rabbit heading to the Coconino County Fair this weekend in Flagstaff. Helping Tiffany is her mother, Carol, co-community leader for the Williams Mountaineers 4-H Club.

The fair starts Friday and runs through Labor Day and is the culmination of a year’s worth of practice. The Mountaineers got together Saturday for one last chance to rehearse showmanship and how to handle their animals for the judges.

"The purpose of the showing is to showcase the animals' best qualities," said Carol Johnson, co-community leader for the Williams Mountaineers 4-H Club, who is also the rabbit and poultry 4-H leader. "It also gives the judges a chance to check the animal for defects."

After the showmanship part of the event, the judges will evaluate the animal individuality without their owners.

The judges ask a lot of questions said Johnson, who has been a 4-H leader since she got out of college. Typical questions include age and type of the animal and the different diseases associated with the animal.

"Know what you have and know the other breeds," said Tiffany Johnson, member of the Mountaineers.

Another factor of the fair is making a profit.

"We sell chickens and rabbits and all kinds of stuff at the fair," Tiffany said. "I’m going to sell a lot of babies (rabbits) and a bunch of satins.

"Probably the babies will go for $5 — more for those with ribbons."

Tiffany is also bringing a turkey and fryer pen (three identical rabbits) to the fair.

"They (the fryer pen) have to be true to breed and identical in weight and color," Tiffany said.

Aaron and Brian Pawlicki will be at the fair as participants in the rabbit, poultry and goat events for the Mountaineers.

"I’m entering two goats, and my brother is entering two," said Aaron. "We’re each entering a market goat — so everyone should come and bid on them."

These market goats will go to auction Saturday at 1 p.m. after the ribbons have been awarded. Sign up starts at 10:30 a.m. and runs until the auction.

"A special barbecue will be held at 11 a.m. for buyers," Aaron said. "It gives the buyers and the kids an opportunity to get to know each other."

A big part of being a 4-H member is seeing the end product sell, Aaron said.

The Pawlickis are a perfect example of how students do not have to limit themselves to just one group of the Mountaineers. John Holmes, forestry leader for Williams, said this practice is commonplace in 4-H.

"Some of my kids are also signed up for other programs," he said. "They can sign up for as many as they want."

The forestry group, which consists of eight kids, meets to learn about the environment and different timberland projects.

"We do different things related to forestry," he said. "One day we made paper — that will be entered into the fair."

Holmes said the goal of the projects is to educate the students about the different types of trees and shrubs there are in the area as well as wildlife habitat and forestry issues related to Williams.

The group will also showcase a cross section of a tree at the fair. Holmes said the cross section shows the age, different events in history and lets the students study the different layers of the tree, like bark.

The group of students involved in 4-H differs each year, Johnson said

"We have two first-year students," she said about the poultry and rabbit group.

"We have a lot of kids this year — I’ve even got a couple coming from Parks."

In addition to poultry, rabbits and forestry, 4-H competitions in Flagstaff will also showcase llamas/alpaca, large livestock (beef, swine and goats), sheep and horses.

The Coconino County Horse Show, Aug. 26-27, is a separate event from the fair, Sept. 1-4, because of the popularity of the show.

"Scores and ribbons are given on a Danish System with more than one blue, one red, and one white, and so on," said Eva Cureton, co-horsemanship leader for the Mountaineers.

At the horse show Anna Cureton, from the Mountaineers, and Rebecca Cardani, from the Kaibab Equestrians, competed against each other and six to eight others.

"Anna also received the Reserve High Point award in the Gymkhana event," Eva said.

Anna earned a first place blue ribbon in the poles and a fifth place blue ribbon in the barrels to earn this honor. Both Anna and Cardani received a number of ribbons. Both qualified to enter the state fair competition in the senior division.

Contestants at the horse show or the fair who receive a blue ribbon are eligible to compete next month in the Valley of the Sun. The state horse show is Oct. 13-15 in Scottsdale. The state fair is Oct. 12-29 in Phoenix.

Advanced tickets for the county fair are available at a 50 percent discount off regular prices until today. At the fairgrounds office, 30 tickets can be purchased for $10, that’s 33 cents each. At the fair tickets are 75 cents. Entry fees into the fair are $5 for adults, $3 for children 7-17 years of age and senior citizens. Children six and under are free. A $15 family pass is also available.


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