PRESS RELEASE - The day starts early for the 4-H/FFA dairy exhibitors as many will rise around 5AM to start the process of preparing their dairy animal for exhibit. Special care will be taken to see that the animals are cleaned and groomed to perfection. The show will start at 9AM with a showmanship class where 4-H/FFA exhibitors compete for top honors in their ability to display their animal to the judge. This will be followed by a long day of exhibiting various breeds of cows in classes divided by the age of the cow. The dairy show is sponsored by Hometown Farmers Market.
Stroll through the shade of the trees at the Fairgrounds, to the James S. Shadle Nature Center. Enjoy a change of pace during a busy Fair day. Inside the Nature Center view many of the new exhibits featuring plants, animals, geology and natural history of the area. Speak with Porcupine Pat about the latest environmental issues and their impact on the area. The Nature Center will be set up with a number of interactive nature learning stations. Some of the stations include a tree rolled out of newspaper and watch it sprout branches. Understand the circles of the earth through making an earth bracelet. People move in circles. The earth provides us with everything we need to survive. We must take great care of our valuable resources.
The earth cycles bracelet reminds all of us that there is a water circle, plant and soil circle, air circle, sun circle and the earth revolves in a circle. Create a farm charm as a reminder each of us of the importance of farms in our lives and the need to protect the environment. This is done by dropping a pinch of each of the valuable resources that the farm uses to produce or food, fuel, and fiber that we consume daily into a small plastic jewelry pouch with a piece of yarn to make a necklace. Can’t see the trees for the forest? Be part of the learning tree mural where participants trace their handprint onto green and brown construction paper and cut them out. The brown hand represents the roots and the green represent the branches of a tree which is then placed on a mural to create a forest. Twist a paper bag around an empty soda bottle to create a freestanding tree. This is a great way to remind us all the importance of trees in our daily life and why they are like the Fair, “Rooted in Our Communities.”
The Ag Museum at the Fair has a number of attractions to interest the whole family. In its 20th year, the Schuylkill County Agricultural Museum’s mission is to preserve the history of local agriculture through many diverse means. The museum offers self-guided tours, exhibits operating antique farm machinery, equipment, engines, woodworking tools, a sawmill and household appliances. A chalk board at the Ag Museum welcome area lists the schedule of the day’s events. Sure to be listed is a small agricultural equipment operation demonstration with the hit and miss engines. Speaking of demonstrations there are the milling of wood in the saw mill area. Also outside the Ag Museum and listed on the chalk board is Todd Gladfelter using his chain saw to carve wood into intricate designs. Todd is a blacksmith artist, chainsaw carver, woodworker, cabinetmaker, man of the earth and his work can be seen on line at www.redmountainarts.com. You can see Todd in action daily at 5:30.
Not to be missed and listed daily on the chalk board is the Bessemer hit-n-miss engine. A working piece of history, this engine was used on to provide energy to factories in 1800 and early 1900. Inclusive with the engines and tractors are the People Choice Awards where the public may vote on their favorite tractor.
Thursday in the Kids tent, which is for children 10 years of age and under may involve themselves in crafts. The crafts are easy, hands on and fun to engage all children.
“Farming for A Day” is back and bigger than ever under a larger tent for this year’s 2014 Schuylkill County Fair. The Farming for the Day has added several new activity stations. In the tent this year there are stations where young and old alike can make a living necklace to wear proudly. While creating a living necklace, add some more jewelry to your collection by creating pasta jewelry. Adding to these two stations is the corn grinding station. Here, using more muscle, children may grind corn into cornmeal and wheat into flour. View the drone bees in action making honey in the hive and try to pick out the queen bee. Back again at one of the activity stations children are able to squeeze a pail of sweet creamy milk. This is from the model milking cow presented by the Dunn Family in memory of Robert “Bobby” Dunn. Learning by doing at this activity station enable children to learn how much work is involved with milking dairy cows two – three times a day and that chocolate milk does not come from brown cows. Bobby Dunn, through his “heart of a kid and patience” as an ambassador of agriculture, would have like children to learn that it takes a lot of work to produce that cold refreshing glass of milk. From the milking station, kids can churn butter from sweet cream donated by Guers Dairy. Cluck like a chicken when you make a chicken clunker out of a plastic cup and string. Grow some hair on a head with the soil Sam (chia-pet). Go buggy when making the flying grasshopper. Play a game of corn bag toss.
These new activity stations are just part of the many other activity stations found in the Farming for a Day tent. The successful hands on activity centers returning from last year include, but are not limited to picking apples, and gathering eggs from nesting boxes. Thank Tri-Valley FFA as children are able to dig up real potatoes growing in a sandbox garden and play in a corn filled or soybean (sand) box. Card some wool for a winter sweater or grind some wheat to make flour. Nearby stalks of corn with ears show children how corn is grown.
Also, new this year is quiet corner where kids can quietly sit and have a story read to them or color in the Fair’s coloring book with soy crayons. The Schuylkill County Reading Council has brought back story time.
to the Fair. Every evening in the Farming for A Day tent, stories about Agriculture will be read by members of the Reading Council at 6 PM. Stop by the Farming for a Day tent and learn about the life of a farmer. While you are in the tent, say a big thank you to the Tri-Valley FFA and the Dunn Family for making the Farming for the Day possible. It is their commitment to Agriculture and a strong work ethic shown by both the Dunn Family and Tri-Valley FFA. The children are our future and Agriculture is what makes that future strong. To find out more about this event or others happening at the Schuylkill County Fair visit us at www.schuylkillfair.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Fair goer have you ever wondered where milk comes from? How important bees are to us and food that we eat. What is the only apple native to North America? Discover all of this and more when you become an Ag Detective. This unique program let’s young and old alike learn about Schuylkill County #1 industry – Agriculture in a fun, engaging way. Placed throughout the fairgrounds are stations where the answers may be found. This is a great way to experience the 2013 Schuylkill County Fair. This interactive program is for all to enjoyment.
Fair goers will have the opportunity to investigate 20 stations set up throughout the fairgrounds. An Ag Detective may start their investigation by stopping by the “Farming for a Day” tent to pick up his official Ag Detective badge to proudly display on himself and working papers. Then it is off to investigate the stations. As Schuylkill County Fair Detectives will have the opportunity to investigate 4-H, Alpacas, Ag Museum, apples, bees, where milk comes from, corn, chickens, goats, horses, rabbits, sheep, steers, learn the difference between straw and hay, what is America’s national flower, parts to a quilt, how many clusters of grapes it takes to produce a glass of wine, what a grain is, and when FFA was found are all part of the contest. At the end of the investigation the Ag Detective will turn in his/her paper work to the Fair Office to redeem a prize for all their hard work. This program is open to all, but only youth under 18 are eligible for a prize. The fun with the Ag Detective doesn’t end there. There are for there are four more parts to the program with the expansion this year. The Ag detective also comes in a clue format. A participant still used the stations around the fairgrounds, but this time the clues are more deeply hidden in the stations. In the dairy barn and cattle barns there is another Ag Detective Activity called “Cattleville” is where participants search the poster for by products of the cattle industry. The third Ag detective activity added this year is found in the Horse Barn. Here measurement and converting the “hand” into feet are done to determine how many “hands” as well as feet tall a horse or pony stands. Turning in any of this paper work to the Fair Office allows participants to be eligible for prizes. Speaking of paper work, exhibitors can find Ag Detective Activity Stations placed around the fairgrounds where they can do a make and take type of learning from each station. The 30 annual 4-H and FFA Livestock sale will be held on Thursday evening. Quality livestock at reasonable prices will be auctioned by Robert Derfler, Auctioneer of Pine Grove. The sale starts promptly at 6 PM in the Livestock Show Ring of the Schuylkill County Fair. Buyers may register to bid on an animal starting at 4PM and enjoy a complementary light meal until the auction starts. Livestock for sale are owned and raised by 4-H/FFA members, who have put a lot of time and hard work into growing and training the animals for this event. The animals selected by the 4-H/FFA members are chosen for their superior genetics and raised on special diets to present an optimum quality animal for the consumer. Proceeds for the sale of these animals go back to the 4-H/FFA members to help with cost of purchasing and feeding the animal. For further information on the purchase of one of these quality animals see attached brochure on the Schuylkill County Fair website at www.schuylkillfair.com . The 4-H and FFA members invite you to purchase a quality animal for your use at the Schuylkill County Fair 4-H/FFA Livestock Sale. All of this and lots more are to be had at the Schuylkill County Fair. Plenty of food can be found on the midway and don’t forget to ride the rides to your heart’s or stomach content. Rides are provided by Goodtime Amusement of Hellertown, PA. To think you get this for one price at the Schuylkill County Fair. For the latest information on the Fair see the web site www.schuylkillfair.com.