Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
The West Virginia State Fair is always an exciting time. So many things to see and do – carnival rides, carnival food, exhibits and live music. Then there’s all the competitions. The livestock show, the FFA exhibits and the 4-H exhibits.
4-Hers of all ages – from Cloverbuds to college students – enter projects in the hope of at least getting a blue ribbon for their efforts.
This year, two Pocahontas County 4-Hers received the illusive purple ribbon – Best in Show.
Twelve projects at the fair received Best in Show honors and included those by 11-year-old Mia Valach and 10-year-old Kylor Brock.
Valach made five brace-lets, four of which were symbols of the four Hs – heart, head, hands and health and the fifth with matching beads and a four-leaf clover.
Although she has been in 4-H since she was a Cloverbud, Valach realized she had never entered a project at state fair.
“I thought it would be good to have competed as a 4-H member, so that’s one of the main reasons that I did it,” she said. “I thought it would be unique to learn about the state and 4-H, too.”
This was also Brock’s first time competing, and only his second year in 4-H.
Brock, who also showed a pig, chose to do his project about the inner workings of a pig, illustrated with lots and lots of candy.
When it came time to make the project, Brock, with the help of his mom, Nicole, looked up ideas on Pinterest and found an example of the candy pig.
“We just saw a picture and we bought all kinds of candy,” Brock said. “We used that as body parts.”
“It was actually better than the one we were looking at so it wasn’t a Pinterest fail,” Nicole added, laughing. “We had a good time with it. That was the first project he’s ever done, so now we’re like, ‘how are we going to top that one.’”
While making the candy pig, Brock admitted it was hard to avoid eating some of the candy in the process.
“A lot of the candy was good,” he said.
Although their 4-H careers started out differently, Valach and Brock both agree on one thing, well two things – camp is their favorite part of being 4-Hers, and it was exciting to win Best in Show for their projects.
“Camp’s really fun to be with a bunch of kids who are one, your age, and two, are experiencing the same thing,” Valach said. “I think that’s my favorite part. That’s my favorite week of summer.”
“I like camp probably the most,” Brock said.
Valach is such a huge fan of 4-H that she has recruited several of her friends to join.
“They’ve all had a great time, and they all said they were coming back next year,” she said.
Valach is the daughter of Mikey and Tracey Valach, of Snowshoe; and Brock is the son of Damon and Nicole rock, of Dunmore.
Other 4-Hers who entered exhibits at the State Fair were: Kya Arbogast, Cora Baldwin, Grayson Barlow, Adalyn Beverage, Madalynn Brock, Makiya Burns, Parker Burns, Kegan Calhoun, Kysor Calhoun, Silas Dean, Victor Dean, Amber Defibaugh, Brayden Diller, Ayla Fanning, Zara Fanning, Michael Friel, Khloe Gainer, Crickett Gregory, Riley Hamons, Levi Hill, Natalie Irvine, Konrad Lowe, Shelldon Maitland, Cambree McLaughlin, Rufus Morgan, Amelia Rogers, Sullivan Seldomridge, Alayna Sharp, Evan Sharp, Savana Sharp, Owen Short, Natalie Sisler, Jameson Slifer, Eden Smith, Abigail Taylor, Luke Taylor, Lydia Taylor and Arabella Wade.
Non 4-H members who exhibited during the State Fair were: Symphony Aiello, Madelyn Albaugh, Abigail Arbogast, Savannah Barnes, Hampton Bennett, Tristan Bennett, Marlee Bickford, Dominick Blankenship, Jase Bryan, Penelope Buzzard, Darren Deputy, Elena Friel, Tucker Greenleaf, Aiden Harrell, Brentley Hazard, Kendyl Hummel, Elijah Keatley, Aaliyah Lawson, Serenity Lycans, Caleb Moore, Preston Moore, Tyler Pace, Aurora Phillips, Braxton Pugh, Brayden Ray, Briley Reed, Talleighia Reynolds, Olivia Shoemaker, Caleb Smith, Selenah Smith, Gage Starks, Gaven Starks, Abigail Stewart, Jennifer Taylor, Aalina Thompson, Mason Turner, Cameron Waugh and Emma Wilfong.
A list of 4-Hers who showed livestock will be included in a separate article after the 4-H/FFA Livestock Show.
