Gearing up for the fair

KateLynn Slaamot
NLJ Correspondent
 
With the Weston County Fair just around the corner — festivities begin Saturday, July 23 — contestants are gearing up for a fun week of horse shows, exhibits, animal showing and more. 
Ethan and Lilly Parsons, children of Tarah and Seth Parsons, are two 4-H students who are excited for the upcoming showing of their fair projects. 
Lilly is entering fourth grade, and this will be her first year officially in 4-H. She will be showing her dog, decorating a cake and participating in the fashion revue. 
“I’m showing my rabbit, (and) I’m showing my goat,” Ethan said. He is also doing a static exhibit of an arrow stand made out of PVC pipe for archery. Ethan is going into sixth grade and is in his third year of 4-H. 
Lilly talked about her projects with the News Letter Journal. She said that she has learned a lot from preparing for dog showing and has realized how much work goes into dog showing with the commands and training. However, Lilly said she has high hopes for her dog-showing experience this year. 
“My goal is to get overall grand champion for dogs,” Lilly said. 
Lilly’s cake decorating project is a watercolor flower cake. Cake decorating takes a lot of time, effort and practice to perfect, but she has enjoyed the learning process, she said.
For the fashion revue, Lilly sewed two outfits, a watermelon dress and a peacock outfit, and she said she really enjoyed learning how to sew better. 
This isn’t Ethan’s first time showing rabbits, he said, and he’s excited to do it again. He said that he didn’t really know what he was doing his first time, but he’s grown and learned a lot since then. This is his first year showing a goat, though, and he said that he’s been enjoying the challenge. 
“It takes a lot of time and effort,” Ethan said. 
Lilly enjoys being part of fair and 4-H because it gives her new opportunities to try new things that she never thought she’d have the opportunity to do. Ethan echoed her thoughts. 
“4-H really helped broaden my skill horizon and discover things I never even knew I could do,” Ethan said. 
Tarah said that it’s been rewarding as a mom to watch her kids find an interest in something and pursue it. She said that she’s seen Ethan and Lilly grow in their self confidence through having to engage in public speaking in their animal showing. Lilly’s involvement in the fashion revue has encouraged her in confidence as well because she needs to present herself well. 
“I’m really proud of these two,” Tarah said. 
Tarah is also thankful for the 4-H community and the support that everyone shows to one another, helping with projects and more. 
“There’s a lot of support there for these kids,” Tarah said. 
Fair week is July 23-Aug. 1, with a lot of fun events and festivities for families, including the ranch rodeo, junior rodeos, mini roughstock rodeo, pig wrestling, family fun carnival and much more. The community is encouraged to attend and support local kids and have a fun time.