4-H had a good 2022 Fair

It seems this year's Great Northern Fair was a success for local 4-H which saw a particularly successful livestock sale in 2022, on top of well-attended animal shows and a great many exhibits from participating students.

Montana State University Hill County Extension Agriculture and 4-H Agent Colleen Pegar said this year's sale brought in $258,000, up from $214,000 last year, and the average prices of beef, goat, sheep and swine were all higher than last year.

Pegar said student projects this year, indoor and outdoor, were very impressive and she thinks everyone did very well.

She said students put a tremendous amount of work into these projects and as a group they all had an excellent showing.

"I think the 4-H'ers had a great fair," she said.

Pegar said the animal shows 4-H held went smoothly as well this year, with no major complications.

While the lineup of shows this year was the same as last year, a couple shows had new additions, or a bigger lineup of participants, she said.

The Small Animal Show, in particular, had 24 entries, far more than last year, she said, and ended up running longer than expected.

Pegar said the Dog Show also added an agility course this year which was really fun to see.

As for the livestock shows, she said, participation was about average with a few more beef, a few less pigs, but quite a few more goats this year.

She said turnout for the shows this year was decent, but some of the shows later in the days saw the crowds thin a bit.

She said she suspects the heat was a significant factor, with Havre seeing triple-digit temperatures throughout fair week.

Pegar said she didn't get out of the barn much this year, but the fair seemed busy every day and she hopes everyone else had a good fair too.

She said she wanted to extend a thank-you to 4-H parents as well as volunteers who helped out during the fair.

She said she also wanted to thank Hill County Extension's Administrative Assistant Amanda Powell, who did a great job keeping the office running during the fair and did a tremendous amount of work making sure everything was in order for 4-H this year.

Pegar said it takes a lot of people to make the Great Northern Fair happen and she wants to thank all of them.