July
Family Newsletter - July 29, 2021
LAST NEWSLETTER UNTIL SEPTEMBER
Remember you must be enrolled in 4-H to participate! There are links at the end of this newsletter with more information about enrollment. If you have any problems with registrations or printing forms or need more information on enrollment please contact our office at 430-6800 or email mnext-washington@umn.edu While the 4-H year is a year-round organization, we do taper programming after the county fair and through September as preparations for state events take place during this time. October 1 the new 4-H year begins and enrollment will start again!
Judging process & trip confirmation times
Those who have completed grade 6 and above are eligible for a State Fair trip. Trip winners will be posted on Wednesday in the 4-H building on the fairgrounds. It will be up to individual families to confirm state trips and pick up a packet by Friday at 7:00 pm. Packets must be returned to our fair office by 1:00 pm on Saturday unless you are also taking an animal trip, the completed packet is due by 1:00 pm on Sunday. Please plan accordingly.
If this is your first time attending the State Fair (Livestock & General/Static), there is a State Fair meeting on Saturday, Aug. 7 @ 11:00 am in the 4-H building at the Washington County. Fair
2021 Covid protocol for County Fair
We ask that 4-H families review the safety protocol from Minnesota 4-H.
Health screening
Stay at home if sick. Participants screen for COVID symptoms and take temperature daily before arriving. If a temperature of 100.0 degrees or higher is present or other symptoms are present, they may not attend.
Wash/sanitize hands often.
Physical distancing is recommended
Face masks are strongly recommended for individuals not fully vaccinated while indoors or when adequate physical distancing is not possible. And, we ask that all people who choose to wear a mask regardless of their vaccination status are respected for their choice.
County Fair Swine Show time change***
The County Fair Swine Show on Thursday, August 5th will start at 9:00 am start rather than 8 am start.
Volunteers needed @ the fair!
Judges Assistants Needed
LET'S FILL EVERY SHIFT!
Let's go, Washington County 4-H Families! In the absence of a food stand last year, we're more eager than ever to have an incredibly lucrative fundraiser. This can only be done if every family and 4-H member volunteers! Please sign-up to support our biggest fundraising effort by volunteering for a food stand shift. We need the most help at some of our early morning and late evening shifts. Please take a peek at the options and sign-up for whatever you can support.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact shanahan@umn.edu.
See you at the fair!
Food Stand Donations
County Ambassadors - We need your help at the County Fair!
Have you signed up to work AT LEAST one shift in the Ambie Booth? This is a wonderful opportunity to practice your leadership skills and chat with fair-goers about why you love 4-H. Welcome guests into the 4-H building, share your favorite 4-H memories, the skills you’ve gained, and how others can get involved. Grab a friend and sign up today! If you’re not currently an Ambassador but would be interested in joining, let Megan know at slate187@umn.edu.
Livestock Quality Assurance & Ethics Training must completed BEFORE County fair!
All youth who have completed 6th grade and are eligible for a State Fair 4-H livestock trip in beef, dairy, sheep, swine, poultry, rabbits, meat goat, dairy goat, and llama must have completed livestock quality assurance training prior to the Washington County Fair.
Any exhibitors who have not yet completed their certification and plan to prior to the fair will need to bring their completed certificate to the fair.
YQCA on-line Training
4-H members have the option of completing the 1-hour online offered via distance learning. This certification is valid for one fair season. The cost of this training is $12/child and is paid at the time of online registration with a credit card. Since training is good for one fair season, it will need to be completed annually. This is a nationally offered program and a registration fee is utilized to upkeep the system and update the training modules. To learn more about the online option, go to; https://drive.google.com/file/d/1baiyUOgWMIC2QKvdT3I7auCB5fCJjmD0/view
Training promotes responsible care of animals, making informed decisions in animal care, and providing safe consumer food products. Youth will receive a certificate of completion. Additional information concerning any Livestock Quality Assurance training in our county will be listed in upcoming 4-H newsletters.
If a 4-H member took the online training in 2020, it will be good for the 2021 fair season as well since there was not an in-person state fair last year.
Horse Project Members
The Horse PDC is hosting a short fundraiser for the Washington County Horse Project, and we need your help!
Working with Midwest Dairy Association, we will be staging spoons at the State Fair Grounds from 6-8pm on August 11th.
Anybody can help out (4-H member or not), and we are requesting that 10 people help out on this date.
Nicole Rucker is organizing this event, and will be on site to help with supervision. Please RSVP to nicole.rucker20@gmail.com if you are able to volunteer.
State Fair Livestock Interviews online in 2021!
4-H’ers exhibiting livestock at the MN State Fair are required to complete an interview process. Typically this has taken place on the U of M campus. Starting in 2021, youth will be required to complete online Interviews for their specific species PRIOR to arriving at the State Fair. Finalists from the online Interview will have an in-person interview with industry experts to determine top placing individuals. Only dairy exhibitors will continue to go through the interview process during the livestock encampment.
Information on the online interview can be found here;
https://sites.google.com/umn.edu/4-h-at-fairs/livestock/interview-process
Seeking 4-H Alumni and their projects!
Please help us spread the word - We would love to showcase some of our Alumni's 4-H projects over the years, the older the better! No worries, we just want to borrow it, not keep it. We plan to then highlight these projects in the 4-H building. Kind of a "memory lane" of sorts among the current 4-H projects. A table in the 4-H building will have a sign-in sheet.
4-H Graduates
4-H Graduates
We are looking forward to acknowledging you at the County Fair!
There are a few tasks we need from you IF you choose to be recognized:
-We would appreciate having a poster board of you displaying pics of your 4-H memories/experiences. These posters will be displayed in the 4-H building during the county fair. (See pic attached of previous posters.) Please bring your poster with you to General Judging Day on Saturday, July 31 between 10-4.
-Most of you have already completed and returned your ‘grad application’ to be recognized Sunday night at our Awards night at the fair. Thank you!
-Livestock & Horse Exhibitors are encouraged to fill out the attached ‘Livestock Graduation Questionere’ that will be read during your specific specie livestock/horse show.
The completed Livestock Questionnaire needs to be emailed back to Ann at; churc109@umn.edu no later than Monday, July 26th. Please do not wait until the last minute.
Horse & Livestock Camping Rules
Camping rules during the fair from the Washington County Ag Society;
- Prefer no tents (for safety reasons). If this is the only option please do not set up in high traffic areas (North side of horse arena or Cattle Judging arena parking lot) -
- All camping units should be at a minimum of 10 feet from the next unit. A vehicle parked in between is permitted.
- No fires or using portable fire pits.
- No hooking up to fairgrounds water supply.
- No plugging into any fairgrounds electricity, campers shall supply their own energy source if needed. Noisy generators will be asked to be turned off if they are disrupting a judging event or other activity.
- There is no option for campers to shower on the grounds during the fair.
- The fairground does not offer a dump station for any campers.
HELP needed for the Washington County Fair!
The Washington County Ag Society is still in need of help for the county fair. Do you have some friends, a church or school group looking to earn some money?
There are numerous spots open to sell gate tickets, take gate tickets, front office help, ticket sellers/ticket takers/wrist bands for grandstand events, etc.
Please if you can help or know of family or friends that can work, please contact Dorie at 651-436-6009 or otag@aol.com
Kaylee Kent has been a dedicated member of the Dog Project, having participated in Agility, Showmanship, Obedience, and Rally. She recently held a garage sale and wanted to donate her proceeds to the Dog Project for new agility equipment. Thank you for putting your “Hands to Larger Service” Kaylee!
The progress on the new wash rack outside the Swine barn continues and will be completed in time for the county fair! Many thanks to Dan Rydeen for constructing the steel gates/pens that will be installed soon! This project wouldn't have been possible without the dedicated livestock families for their time and skills as well as funding from the Washington County Ag Society, Livestock PDC and America Farmers Grow Communities donations. This wash rack will be enjoyed for years to come!
Thank you to Julia Northwick and the Horse PDC for pulling the Schooling Show together.
Thank you to the Arts-In Directors, Elsie Tenpas, Jenny Moran, Joe Voth, and Becky Tenpas, the Performing Arts PDC, Avis Peters, Heather Verdick, and Ellen Rademacher, the dedicated food and costuming committees, and countless parent volunteers for making this year’s show, Wild West, a success!
Thank you to Kara Topper for leading the Rabbit Agility Workshops! It has been great to see so many 4-H’ers enjoying this experience with their rabbits!
Thank you to Scott and Anahle Zwiefel for hosting a Rabbit Workshop to prepare 4-H youth for the county fair shows. Appreciate your time and knowledge!
Thank you to the Verdick and Leach families for all their help in making updates to the 4-H Exhibit Building.
4-H Re-enrollment starts October 1, 2021
Club Reports Needed
Family Newsletter will suspend the month of August
New Member Information
New Family Survey
We invite new families who have been enrolled in 4-H for less than 2 years to take a short survey.
We want to take this opportunity to gather some information on how to better serve you and make your 4-H experience a positive one like it has been for so many 4-H families before you. With all the project areas and directions that 4-Hers can explore and develop from we need your help in finding what areas we as staff need to focus on to meet the current needs of our families. Our goal is to take the results of this survey and implement future programming
This will only take a few minutes to complete and we thank you for your input.
Washington County Extension website - the place to find information!
- Current and past Family Newsletters
- County Animal ID letters
- News articles about our larger ongoing project areas
- Events calendar
- County club map with contacts
- County Fair information as it becomes available
- Much more
Washington County 4-H
Ann Church
Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development
(651) 430-6809
churc109@umn.edu
Megan Slater
Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development
(651) 430-6805
slate187@umn.edu
Kathy Erf
Principal Office & Administrative Specialist
(651) 430-6800
eber0002@umn.edu
Email: mnext-washington@umn.edu
Website: https://extension.umn.edu/local/washington
Location: 14949 62nd Street North, Stillwater, MN, USA
Phone: 651-430-6800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WashingtonCounty4HMinnesota/?eid=ARD3CbY40ZXk23UD59FlaMaXZPKXCGDBzsQS7-RO0gKl7wFyNEUm8dWZoBgNFIOlA6YV2fuq5GLnRX-s