Officials with Pulaski County’s longest running fair, the Tri-County Fair, released their fair results last week.
Nearly $170,000 worth of livestock raised by area youth was sold at auction, with many of the participating children winning prizes for their abilities, according to Waita Karcher, the 4-H coordinator for the Pulaski County Extension Center.
However, Karcher said she doesn’t want people to think her programs are only for rural residents.
“A lot of times when I tell people that we do 4-H programs, they say, ‘I don’t have a cow,’” Karcher said. “I would like for everybody to know that 4-H is not just cows, sows and plows.”
Modern agriculture often includes high-tech activities, and Karcher said student projects include everything from robotics to computers to scientific soil analysis for crops as well as more traditional non-livestock activities such as cooking and sewing. Some 4-H projects in other counties have even included tractors run by GPS systems for contour farming and erosion control, she said.
There’s no admission charge to the four-day fair, Karcher said, though the midway carnival and some individual events such as the truck and tractor pull and a demolition derby do have an admission charge.
“It’s all staffed by volunteers or organizations; the conservation agent is coming, Missouri Ozarks Head Start is coming, the library set up a table,” Karcher said. “And this year for the first year, we had volunteers coming from the Sheltered Workshop.”
Livestock shown at the fair include goats, heifers, steers and hogs. The home economics building also hosted quilts shows, needlework and various 4-H projects.
“We have judges where the kids bring their project to the judge and the judge will talk to them and they’ll explain what they’ve learned on the project and then the judge will tell them what ribbon they are earning, whether it’s a blue ribbon, a red ribbon or a white ribbon,” Karcher said. “Blue ribbon is excellent and then it does down from there … They’re actually being judged based on what they have done and learned; they’re not being judged against anyone else.”
Karcher coordinates 4-H clubs throughout Pulaski County, including a countywide horse club, and works with school-based Future Farmers of America chapters in Crocker, Richland and Waynesville. However, some of her largest 4-H groups are on Fort Leonard Wood and registered through the post’s Child and Youth Services program.
The Army mandates that 4-H programs be offered at all its installations and 250 people on post participate, said Karcher, whose husband was a career Army officer and whose son is now an Army officer in Iraq.
“I really like to see our military families come and enjoy the county fair,” Karcher said. “The fair board and everybody in Richland loves our military families and they want them to come out and visit.”
The fair board offers an “open class” for students who may be raising livestock but are not participants in 4-H or Future Farmers of America program.
“The reason that I like to see people come to the fair is it’s truly a county fair,” Karcher said. “I think that the board members strive to have a fair that is family-oriented and for kids.”
Some activities focus on fun, not on skills.
Those include a jalapeno-eating contest and a “super farmer” contest in which couples, typically husbands and wives, compete in activities such as egg gathering, bale tossing, hog calling, and racing in wheelbarrows and with water buckets.
Tri-County Fair winners this year were:

Livestock
Grand champion steer: Cheyenne Zeigenbein, Richland
Lamb champion: Trent Zeigenbein, Richland
Grand champion hog: Jacob Hedges, Stoutland
Overall grand champion heifer: Rachelle Francis, Stoutland
Dairy goat show champion:
Hershey, owned by Brianna Smith
Dairy goat reserve champion:
Radar, owned by Travis Black

Fair pageant:
Jessi Vi Struckoff, Queen
Cheyenne Zeigenbein, Princess
Madison Weller, Little Miss
Fun contests:
Super Farmer winners: Christy McDaniel and Scott McMahon
Jalapeno Eating Contest: Jerry Mathes

4-H Project Judging:
State Fair Top Winners
Scrapbooking: Jewellene Shortell
Horse (wooden): Sara Carnes
Blue/Black pillow: Justin Rachau
4-H birdfeeder/chalkboard: Wade Sherrer
Memory box: Nina Smith

Clover Kids Winner (5-7 age group)
Butterfly box: Luke Kays
Square box: Luke Kays
4-H recipe box: Cole Luttrell
Jewelry box: Kiersten Luttrell
Painted box: Dakota Pemberton
Painted bag: Dakota Pemberton
Painted cow: Dakota Pemberton

Blue Ribbon:
Decorated canvas bag: Sara Carnes
Wooden box: Adam Carnes
Decorated canvas bag: Adam Carnes
Wooden box: Alyssa Kelley
Photo box: Stacia Luttrell
Butterfly box: Caitlin Starnes
Painted box: Halie Howlett
Wooden jewelry box: Ashton Smith
Red/yellow wood box: Allisha Davenport

Red Ribbon:
Stain glass: Sara Carnes
Stain glass dog: Adam Carnes
Birdhouse: Caitlin Starnes
Milk can: Caitlin Starnes
Wooden arrowhead case: Jacob Davenport