In addition to school, the Dalton 4-H Club was our main social get-together, connecting us to new friends from other rural schools in Ottertail County. 4-H activities included family-orientated entertainment, meetings, picnics, parties, and hayrides; but most of all 4-H promoted a sense of belonging and inclusiveness among members. The parent leaders empowered the 4-H members and taught leadership skills as they allowed young people to have a role in decision making. We older members held offices, chaired committees, and conducted meetings.
Gathering at the Dalton school once a month, we elected officers, presented programs, and planned activities. We recited the 4-H creed, read secretary and treasurer reports, and voted to have the annual Halloween and Christmas parties. When the meeting adjourned, parents visited over coffee and bars while we kids wandered through the school to places teachers usually forbid us to explore.
One of our first fall social functions was a hayride. While a tractor pulled the hayrack stacked with square bales; we girls bunched together, laughing and giggling, as the boys roughhoused and threw hay at us. A bright harvest moon lit our way as we rode over winding dirt roads through the rural countryside. We sang songs and enjoyed a beautiful fall evening, the air cool and crisp, autumn smells filling the air. Returning to the farm, we sat around a crackling bonfire, mesmerized by dancing copper-colored flames and red-hot glowing embers while we roasted marshmallows on long sticks, drank hot apple cider, and enjoyed the camaraderie of wonderful friends.
October brought us the Halloween party, in December we had a bunco party, and in January we prepared for our annual Share-the-Fun Festival. At that event, some clubs performed choral numbers, instrumental pieces, or dance routines; our club performed a humorous theatrical skit. It gave us the opportunity to work on vocal projection, entrances and exits, focus, transition, and movement, as well as selecting costumes and props. We learned teamwork by collaborating on our performance, costuming, creativity, and staging, but most of all we developed new friendships while having fun.
Instead of a July meeting, we had 4-H Visiting Day. 4-H club members, parents, and county extension agents caravanned from farm to farm to observe project animals. We ended the day with a wiener roast and a softball game.
County Fair
The most highly anticipated event of 4-H was the annual county fair. Ribbons and premiums were awarded in many classes of competition, although my primary goal was to have fun with my friends. Warren, Audrey, and I showed pigs at the county fair in Fergus Falls, which required us to remain there so we could feed and water them. We showed black-and-white Hampshire pigs and white Yorkshires.
In the days leading up to the county fair, we trained our pigs for exhibition. We tried to teach the pigs to turn right when we tapped them on the left shoulder and turn left when we tapped them on the right shoulder. To have them walk straight ahead, we tapped them between the shoulder blades. Unfortunately, our pigs never were able to learn these signals.
On the day of judging, we washed and brushed the pigs, patted their bristled backs with talcum powder and baby oil, and tried to curl their tails. Attired in black slacks and a white shirt, and carrying a bamboo cane, I paraded my three-hundred-pound heavyweight barrow into the dusty show arena. My showmanship consisted of following my barrow around the show ring rather than parading him around it. Dad said to let the judges get a favorable look at our pigs, so we tried to slow them down in front of the judges’ viewing area. County Agent Nick Wyrhens said our goal was to learn how to raise a quality pig and to assume responsibility.
Dad knew how to select a worthy animal from our private stock with appropriate muscling and leanness, and every year we were awarded blue ribbons for our pigs, which made Dad proud. When the judges quizzed me, I remembered the stock answers Dad had formulated for me.
“How much do you feed your pig a day?” asked a judge.
“I’m a believer in self-feeding, so I let him eat as much as he wants. This allows him to grow as fast as possible. And I make sure he has water.”
“How much weight does your pig gain a day?”
“Well, I figure a little over two pounds a day.”
“What was the hardest part of raising your pig?”
“I have to check several times a day that my pig has water in his trough due to the fact that he loves to tip it over to cool off. Pigs don’t sweat, you know.”
“What is your pig’s name, Miss?”
“My dad doesn’t let us name the pigs. He tells us to be kind to them, but to keep in mind they’re not pets to become attached to because they’re only around for nine months.”
“Smart dad,” a judge laughed.
Judging finished, we enjoyed three days of complete freedom to eat cotton candy and snow cones, play midway games, listen to carnival music, go on amusement rides, visit exhibit barns and concession stands, and attend the grandstand. We congregated with friends at the horse barn, wandered through cattle barns, explored the pig and sheep exhibition pens, and rambled through the 4-H building to see food and sewing exhibits. When we got hungry, we stopped by our 4-H booth for free pasteurized chocolate milk and purchased a barbeque for twenty-five cents.
Dad gave us money to spend; and for ten cents a ride, we rode the Tilt-A-Whirl, Bullet, Octopus, Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, roller coaster, and bumper cars. We frequented a funhouse, a walkthrough amusement trailer featuring a moving walkway, mirror mazes, trick stairways, and dark passages as well as tilted rooms. We watched older kids win stuffed animals at midway booths, and we tried our luck at ring-the bottle, ring toss, tip-the-bear, and cranes.
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
–Hebrews 10:24 (NIV)