Two Fairs in Two Counties

Published: 2019
By Mikayla Hudson

This year, the Madison-Jefferson 4-H program enrolled over 320 members and 47 adult volunteers with nearly 1000 entries heading to fair. The Madison-Jefferson 4-H program is unique in many ways. Youth enrolled in the program have the opportunity to attend two fairs, one in Madison County at the Twin Bridges Fairgrounds and the other in Boulder at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. Cloverbuds are also able to exhibit small animals such as chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs, and pocket pets. Cloverbuds are not competing against each other but rather developing their showmanship skills and having fun at fair. Each fair, has a 4-H sale. The Madison County 4-H fair sale has some unique qualities. No sale animals are allowed to sell higher than the grand champion and they sell the animals by ribbon color. With the success of the market poultry project last year members chose to add market goats to the mix this year. It was a success! Local buyers were interested and quite pleased to have these “new”, non-traditional market animal offerings. Popular indoor projects included wood working, welding, photography and cooking. The Jefferson County sale is also unique. Instead of selling animals by the pound as most fairs do; they sell animals by the head.