Morris County 4-H Fair Results

Local residents received high honors at the Morris County 4-H Fair.

Morris County 4-H recently held their annual Morris County 4-H Fair at Chubb Park, Chester from July 19th – 23rd. 4-Hers and youth from around the county had been invited to compete in the many Divisions spanning from Fine Art to Photography to Science. Kids in grades kindergarten to 3rd grade received beautiful rainbow flat ribbons while children from grade 4 to grade 13 (one year past highschool) were eligible for Excellent blue ribbons, Very Good red ribbons, Good yellow ribbons and Fair white ribbons. Approximately 175 4-Hers, Morris County youth and Adult 4-H Volunteers participated with a total of 775 entries. Projects were on display the entire Fair for Fairgoers to see.

The Fine Art Division, the second largest entered Open Division with 112 projects welcomed paintings, drawings done in a variety of different media including pencil, pen, pastel and charcoal, sculpture and displayable computer generated art work.

Morris Plains resident and Wing Nuts 4-H Club member June Perigo competed with two 2-D projects. June’s drawing entitled ‘My Shoe’ was awarded a Best in Show rosette in the 2-D Unit, Grades 9-13. A Best in Show was a very special prize given to the absolute best in a Unit.

Siblings and Shutterbugs 4-H Photography Club members, Holt and Karsten Englander of Morristown participated in the different Units in the Photography Division. In the Landscape/Nature/Floral Unit, Grades 4-8 Karsten’s entry, ‘Tenerife Town’, won Best in Show while ‘Rocky Road’, Holt’s photo received an Honorable Mention in the same category. An Honorable Mention was given to runner-up in a given Unit.

In the Altered/Manipulated/Abstract/Other Unit, Grades 4-8, Holt’s photo entitled ‘Yarn’ was honored with a Best in Show.

The Allegro School 4-H Club out of Cedar Knolls had many participants with different entries. The Club took home Best in Shows and Honorable Mentions in multiple Open Divisions.

The Fair was not limited to just Divisions; it also caters to other Events such as the Dog Show, the Poultry Show, Goat Showmanship and the Rabbit, Cavy (guinea pig) and Small Animal Shows. Judged Events such as the Dog Quiz Bowl, Small Animal Bowl, Goat Quiz Bowl, Poultry Quiz Bowl and Horse Quiz Bowl also took place.

Furry Friends and Buckanears 4-H Small Animal Clubs members were very excited to compete in the Rabbit, Cavy and Small Animal Shows that took place on Saturday. In this set of ‘beauty shows’ animals were judged against a standards of perfection. Rabbits were judged against ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association) Standards of Perfection while Cavies were judged against ACBA (American Cavy Breeders Association) Standards of Perfection.

Buckanears 4-H Club member, Jason Eagan of Morris Plains competed with his Self Crested Broken Colored Senior Sow in the Cavy Show. His Cavy received a Best of Breed Self Crested, an award only given to the animal that best fit the breed standards. Later in the show, Jason’s Cavy went on to win Best Reserved in Show. This award was second only to Best in Show.

Jason’s sister Zoe, also a member of the Buckanears 4-H Club, took home 2nd place in the Rabbit Quiz Bowl. This contest quizzed 4-H youth on their animal knowledge.

The Rutgers Cooperative Extension 4-H Youth Development Program uses a learn by doing approach to enable youth to develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to become competent, caring and contributing citizens of the world.

For more information about 4-H clubs or becoming a 4-H volunteer, visit the 4-H website at http://morris.njaes.rutgers.edu or contact the 4-H office (973) 285-8301 or email 4hmorris@njaes.rutgers.edu. The 4-H Youth Development Program is part of Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Cooperative Extension. 4-H educational programs are offered to all youth, grades K-13, on an age appropriate basis, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, military service, veteran status, and any other category protected by law.