Jefferson County is rich in its agricultural heritage. The Jefferson County Fair, held Aug. 18-24 at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, celebrated the bounty of the County’s farms and gives youth the opportunity to exhibit livestock, vegetables and a variety of 4-H projects. Members of the Shenandoah Shamrocks 4-H Club brought home awards and ribbons in many categories.

Included among the winners were: Leeland and Peyton Benner 1st Place Open Herdsman Swine and Winner Open Class Boer Swine; Mikey Benner — Grand Champion Feeder Steer (Youth and Open Division); Peyton Benner — Rate of Gain Swine; Carly Constantino Best in Show Division 2 Flower Show and JP Burns Jr Sweepstakes Award; Carly and Chloe Constantino (tie) Most Blue Ribbons Division 2 Flower Show; McKayla Dodson — Grand Champion Junior Showmanship Beef, Reserve Grand Champion Market Steer, 1st Place Junior Showmanship Beef, 1st Place Junior Showmanship Market Goats, Junior Reserve Champion Breeding Boer Goat, Grand Champion Market Goat and Junior Premier Youth Exhibitor Goat; Miranda Dodson — Grand Champion Senior Showmanship Sheep, Grand Champion Previous Winner Showmanship Sheep, 1st Place Senior Showmanship Lamb, 1st Place Previous Winner Showmanship Lamb and Senior Premier Youth Exhibitor Lamb; Emily Hott Grand Champion Junior Showmanship Swine and Reserve Champion Market Swine’ Hannah Hott Reserve Champion Female Breeding Swine; Matt Hott Grand Champion Senior Showmanship Swine; Amber Legowik — Grand Champion Overall Ewe Lamb and Supreme Champion Breeding Ewe Lamb Youth; Tamara Legowik Grand Champion Senior Showmanship Fiber Division and 1st place Herdsman Fiber Division’ Ksusha Lowry-Neufeld — Landscape Gardening Blue Ribbon; Anna Ours 1st Place Junior Swine Showmanship, Winner Open Class Gilt Swine, Champion Female Breeding Swine, Premier Youth Exhibitor Swine and Grand Champion Market Swine; Montana Silveous 2nd Place Youth Herdsman Swine and 3rd Place Junior Showmanship Lamb; Savannah Walls — Grand Champion Novice Showmanship Sheep, 1st Place Novice Showmanship Lamb and 2nd place Mutton Bustin’.

The club showed its support for all exhibitors and participants at the Fair by sponsoring awards in several categories: Meat Goats — Reserve Grand Champion Pygmy Open and Grand Champion Pygmy Open; Swine — 1st Novice Showmanship; and Youth — Camp Craft Best in Show for Younger, Intermediate, and Older. The club won a blue ribbon for its entry in Produce Box category.

Shenandoah Shamrocks Club members thank Smithfield Farm for purchasing the Club’s collection of delicious baked goods during the Fair Bake Sale Auction. The Club entry featured peaches as the main ingredient peach tart, peach cobbler, peach salsa, sugar cookies and fresh peaches.

Club members showed livestock at the West Virginia State Fair which ran August 9th through August 17th. Miranda Dodson won Grand Champion Steer and Reserve Champion Steer Showmanship in the Sr. Division. McKayla Dodson won Reserve Champion Goat Showmanship in the Jr. Division and Premier Youth Exhibitor for Goats. Emily Hott took 1st and 2nd places in her Swine class, and Matt Hott took 3rd place in his Swine class. Savannah Walls placed 7th in Sheep Showmanship in the Novice Division and 4th and 7th in her Sheep classes. Many members of the Shenandoah Shamrocks 4-H Club submitted photographs for the State Photo Contest, and all entries were displayed at the West Virginia State Fair.

Club members also participated in the State 4-H Days competition held at West Virginia University in late July. The County Livestock Judging Team (Blake Cogle, McKayla Dodson, Emily Hott, Matt Hott, Molly Ott, Montana Silveous, and Shelby Silveous) took part, and the Junior Team placed second in the State. McKayla Dodson and Emily Hott tied for first place in the oral reasons category. Ksusha Lowry-Neufeld received a gold ribbon (highest honor) for her visual presentation titled “The Homeless in Jefferson County: I Can Make a Difference” and was a State Poster Contest winner for her recycling poster entry.

The Shenandoah Shamrocks 4-H Club meets the second Monday of every month at the Ranson Senior Center. Club Leader Barbara Dodson can be contacted via e-mail at bdodson1013@frontiernet.net. Club Reporter is Ksusha Lowry-Neufeld.