Winding Down and Saying Thank You

It is sad, no more cotton candy, funnel cakes, or collard sandwiches. As we finish winding down the fair, cleaning up at the fairgrounds, cleaning out our vehicles from hauling everything around for 10 days, it is time to reflect, smile, and say thank you.

First we need to say thank you to the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair, Coble D. Wilson, Jr. the Fair Board President, and all the members of the fair board, and friends of the fair. The fair board members not only allowed us to celebrate our centennial but really backed us and supported us in our efforts this year. It started before the fair ever opened. This year the 4-H educational booths were placed in a special area in the commercial exhibits building and we had more than 3 times the booths that we normally have.
Then the fair kicked up a few notches with our opening ceremonies and Dr. Thearon McKinney, from our state 4-H office, helping kick off this year's fair. Our Junior Fair Board members handed out centennial pins to the first 100 people through the gate. Each of the fair board members received a centennial pin and wore them throughout the duration of the fair. A few even had 4-H shirts and we really appreciate those who were brave enough to switch from their fair board shirts to their 4-H shirts and wear them during the fair. The fair also had special travel mugs made with the fair logo on one side and the 4-H centennial logo on the other side, which they gave out to principals, and special guests during the fair. A few of our 4-H members released one hundred 4-H balloons into the air. To top off a grand opening ceremony Steve Troxler our state Agriculture Commissioner, Cherrie Berry, our state Labor Commissioner, and Dr. Thearon McKinney all cut the 4-H birthday cake to really make sure this year was extra sweet.

It did not stop there. During the week we had our usual youth activities. 4-H of course was predominate in the Livestock building with nightly animal shows. We also had a centennial scavenger hunt we gave out t-shirts that had the fair logo on the front and a huge centennial logo on the back. The fair board was kind enough to supply the shirts as a prize for this event. J&J Amusements and the Starr Family Circus were also kind enough to help us by keeping answers to the scavenger hunt on rides and stages. The Junior Fair Board which is made up
predominantly of 4-H members was present every night. These teens helped measure youth for rides, gave out wristbands to help children so they would not get lost, and for those who did get lost they helped them find their parents. These very responsible teens also gave out information about shows and other goings on at the fair and helped out some of the fair board members with their events.

Our own Aggie Rogers organizes a ton of other youth events at the fair like Apollo Night, the Step Show, Fair Pageant and Praise Dance Competition. Between these events she is with the Junior Fair board members making sure they have everything they need.

Probably the biggest thank you of all needs to go to our 4-H members and volunteers. To start with the efforts of all of our clubs were evident in their hard work in their booths. The St. Paul's Pony put up a horse skeleton that the members of the club spent a year putting together. The Junior Fair Board, Lighting Electric Club, Inspirational Youth, and Future Leaders put up their first fair booths ever. Voices in Praise, Young Leaders, Horsin' Around and Dirty Rascals Junior Master Gardeners stepped up to the challenge of the Centennial theme and outdid themselves again this year. Of course we also have to thank our friends from Bladen County 4-H for all their hard work on the ambassador booth and 4-H booth. They did themselves proud as well and showed that our fair is truly a regional fair, and we all work together to make the best better.

The work of our volunteers did not stop there. Some of our 4-H volunteers were out there every night (or pretty close to it) and deserve a special pat on the back for all their support of our 4-H program. Marilyn Merritt was by Aggie's side helping with the Junior Fair Board. Bobby Rogers started helping set up booths, offered his carpentry skills all around, and then moved on to hay and helping mentor some of our 4-H members at the fair. Every time I turned around there was Jane Hurst with her camera. Snapping photos and filling any slot where we needed someone. Sandra Cox came out and helped with Senior Citizen day which is always appreciated. Missy McLean and Larry Russ were in the livestock building helping with everything from watering down the ring to weighing in animals, cutting up chickens (grocery store chickens), and even capturing crazed animals that would get loose in the ring.
Allen Monk, a Bladen County 4-H member and his mother Peggy Monk volunteered to help us in the Livestock building and they were wonderful to work with this year and were willing to step in wherever we needed them. Tanya Underwood and Penny McCartney flew in to help with their first ever poultry judging contest. Of course I can't forget one of our best gate keepers, Scott Shaver, a Bladen county 4-H volunteer, who would go to work and then come out to the fair to handle gate duty for our lamb and heifer show. Then there is an entire list of extension agents who came in and volunteered on weekends and on their own time to help with competitions: Livestock Agents Michelle Shooter, Tiffanee Conrad-Acuna, and Becky Spearman; 4-H Agents Michelle Stumbo, Angela Shaver and Lauren Irby; Horticulture Agent Kerrie Roach and Poultry Agent James Parsons.

After thanking all of these volunteers, which our success at the fair is
dependant on their help there is one last group we need to thank, our youth and parents. We had 4-H members from around the state come to compete at our fair and parents who are so supportive they are willing to get up early and drive to our fair to allow their child to be in an environment where they can learn, achieve and succeed. This is why we all do this, is to give that positive hands on learning opportunity to our youth to allow them to grow and become successful adults in the future. the place to do that from October 1-10 was the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair.

One quick follow up to our opening day. I got a call Friday afternoon from a very nice man named Tim Barfield, in Cary, North Carolina. He called to tell me that he and his son were fishing about 10 miles south of Atlantic Beach out in the ocean and saw something floating out there. Being the good environmentalist that they are they thought it was trash and went to pick it up. As they got closer they realized that it was a bunch of balloons. When they fished them out they were able to piece together that it was part of our balloon release and called me to let me know where they found them. I was so thankful that they fished them out of the ocean, and called us that we will be sending him a big thank you note and centennial pin.

The fair may be over for 2009 but we will start planning now for 2010. If you would like to volunteer to be part of the fun just let us know by calling (910) 671-3276 we always need help and are excited to work with volunteers in any capacity. Go ahead and mark your calendars for the 2010 Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair, our 10 days of fun will be September 30-October 9.

One last thank you to everyone who made this fair such a huge success for 4-H. We can't do it without you and we hope you know how much we appreciate everything you do.