This morning it was time to head out to one of the local county fairs. The Clackamas County fair is my personal favorite because of the large number of 4-Hers and FFA kids that participate in it. I love knowing that there are still kids that look forward to competing at the county fair as much as I did when I was growing up.
I was in 7th grade when I attended my first 4-H fair. When I saw the trophies and ribbons that could be won, I was hooked. I wanted to win ribbons and wanted to win them BAD. I don’t think competition is a bad thing–quite the opposite really. I think it makes you strive to be the best you can be and, more importantly, teaches you good sportsmanship. I learned to love winning and I learned to be a gracious loser. I spent every summer of my teen-age years attending county and state fairs showing my livestock and loved every minute of it. I certainly didn’t win all the time, or even most of the time, but when I did, I truly enjoyed it. It no doubt laid the foundation for my love of competing with my dogs that I have today. And if you ask anyone on my flyball team they will confirm that I’m still a pretty darn competitive person.
So today it was time for the fair and I was so excited to see my favorite junior-flyballer Brianna there. No, she wasn’t playing flyball. Instead she was auctioning off her market goat in the livestock auction; turns out her goat was the Reserve Champion market goat and that was a pretty impressive win given how many market goats I saw entered! She ended up earning around $600 for him and I agreed to help buy her market goat at next year’s fair!
I spent quite a bit of time in the livestock barns–I still love (and miss) the sweet smell of hay and straw. And I discovered that even after all these years I can STILL hypnotize a pig as well as anyone. In less than 10 seconds I had a huge sow down on her side and asleep–some things you just never forget how to do!
Then it was off to the photography exhibit–did I mention I entered some photos at the fair? Not that I’m competitive or anything…
What can I say? I ended up winning first place in four different categories and earning a couple of special awards with my “Summit Squirrel” and “Big Sky Country” photos. Did I mention how much I love winning ribbons?????
Congratulations on your pretty rosettes! They are very well deserved. Good sportsmanship is such an important lesson!
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