MADISON — Hundreds of residents from Madison County and surrounding counties showed up to the third day of the annual Madison County Fair and Rodeo to witness the Mid-States Championship Rodeo, the carnival and also the livestock that are treated with high quality.
The carnival started at 6 p.m. with dozens of rides available for the public to endure, as well as food trucks that were posted up with local businesses supplying various fair foods.
However, before the carnival opened its gates, the 4-H office opened its doors at 7:30 a.m. preparing for livestock judging while also making sure each of the hundreds of animals was groomed, cleaned and fed throughout the whole day.
4-H is a network of youth organizations structured around “Head, Heart, Hands and Health.” The message of this organization is to speak up for animals.
Multi-award winner and former seven-year member of the Madison 4-H council, Becca Arkfeld attended the festival as a patron for the festival with Flood Communications’ 94 Rock radio station and as a 4-H’er for life.
“My family has been involved with 4-H before I was born, so I was kind of born into it,” Arkfeld said. “I did FFA my senior year of high school so I have a large background in agriculture.”
Arkfeld has attended many fairs around the area; however, she said Madison County just knows how to do it best.
“I know we struggle with numbers every so often, but it always comes back around,” Arkfeld said. “I honestly love our 4-H board, and I really do love Madison County Fair and the 4-H kids.”
Arkfeld has a segment on US92 this week called “Becca Back in the Barn,” which aired on Wednesday and will air on Friday.
“Yesterday I interviewed 4-H kids who were doing their interviews for the bucket calf show and then this morning I interviewed kids at the hog show and dairy show,” Arkfeld said. “On Friday, I’ll head down again at 9 a.m. for the sheep and goat show.”
Arkfeld said she loves to talk with the 4-H children because of how passionate they are about this organization’s overall message and is excited to hear the other perspectives of the Madison County Fair outside of the highly esteemed rodeo.
“I know a lot of people like to talk about the rodeo and the carnival and the concerts and a lot of the times they forget about the 4-H kids, so I have always had a soft spot for them,” Arkfeld said.
For Arkfeld, 4-H is a life skill, and it plays a part in teaching her responsibility, how to be a proper caregiver and how to maintain a strong presentation.
“A lot of skills through 4-H you can not learn anywhere else,” Arkfeld said. “Raising livestock is one of the hardest things you can do and, as a young kid, you are responsible for caring and training and preparing livestock animals for shows. It’s a lot of dedication and hard work.”
Arkfeld said she is proud of her community and wants the public to know how important these competitions are to these children who attend fairs and events through 4-H.
“We grow up on farms, and we produce these livestock,” Arkfeld said. “This is an opportunity to bring what our families can produce and compete with the other children in the area with other kids from other areas and farms. It is a moment to be proud of what your family can produce, and it’s really rewarding when you get that purple ribbon or when you win that grand champion because it’s tough competition down here. And so when you win, it’s a really big deal to these kids.”
Arkfeld’s co-worker, Brian Streeter, has gotten to know Arkfeld and her efforts with 4-H throughout the summer and to him, it has been a culture shock.
Streeter grew up in Lincoln and knew little about 4-H but while working with Arkfeld, he has learned a lot about the program and the lengths Madison County goes through.
“Down in Lincoln, we have 4-H but I’ve never really heard much about it,” Streeter said. “Becca has been showing me around the 4-H stuff and today I learned there were four types of cows. I didn’t realize how big of a deal 4-H is out here, but it’s actually really cool to see.”
Laurie Simonsen, an organizer for the Christian Cross Festival, has been attending the Madison County Fair for the past 35 years and this year she came with her husband, Brett, to look at all the animals that the 4-H kids are raising and to find a few animals to borrow for a church event.
“Being a farm girl at heart, I always like to go and see all the different animals, and we like the fair atmosphere,” Simonsen said.
Simonsen agrees that 4-H teaches kids responsibility and understands that raising these animals is a complicated process.
“To me, it’s a hard-working process,” Simonsen said. “These animals are taken from little to big and sometimes they’ll sell them or take them back to the farm. This just teaches them the responsibility of taking care of them and how to feed them and brush them and everything else.”
The importance of 4-H to Simonsen is the fact that it is a family competition and said that animals are like family.
“I see these kids taking care of these animals when they’re small and if different ones are sick, they get taken care of immediately and other families are helping out other 4-H families, it’s all just neat to see,” Simonsen said.
Simonsen’s church, St. John’s Lutheran Church, is having its vacation Bible school event from Monday, July 22, through Thursday, July 25, and the theme is “God’s New Creation.” A different animal will be provided every hour from the 24th to the 25th, and Simonsen came to the fair to look for a little pig and goat from the local community.
“We just need a small pig and goat for one hour each, so if anybody knows of any, please call St. John’s Lutheran of Norfolk,” Simonsen said.
Simonsen would like to thank the fair board, volunteers, sponsors and vendors for all the work that goes into the Madison County Fair.
“It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get to see these people come out and enjoy the fair,” Simonsen said. “But every little thing helps the fair and makes it a better place. It’s neat to see all the friends and family getting together and all these different communities coming together.”
The Madison County Fair and Rodeo will continue on Friday with various animal shows through 4-H, including an open-class cat show. There will be a Pioneer Farm Family Awards ceremony as well as a high point horse awards presentation at the grandstand arena at 7 p.m. Friday also will be the last night of the Mid-States Championship Rodeo & Miniature Rodeo. It will start at 7:30 p.m. with the carnival going on from 6 to 11 p.m.
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