A wide-eyed Rohan Springer entered the 2016 Allen County Fair not quite certain what to expect.
He’d never been in 4-H before joining as a Cloverbud one year prior, and neither had his parents, Job and Katrina Springer.
“But his father thought it’d be a good idea to try it, and both of our parents had done 4-H,” Katrina explained. “We were impressed with the people from the 4-H group, so we thought, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Young Rohan acquitted himself quite well in his inaugural fair foray, earning blue ribbons in every category in which he competed. The highlight was earning a class champion rating for his pig.
He hopes to build upon that success for the 2017 fair, which kicks off next week at Riverside Park.
As a member of the City Slickers 4-H club, Rohan, who will celebrate his 9th birthday on Wednesday, will enter two more pigs, a pair of goats, chickens, a ceramic piece for arts and crafts, photography and gardening. Still to do is building a wood Rolfing table for Cathy Stahl, a neuromuscular massage therapist in town, which Rohan will enter as his woodworking project.
While the Springer family has raised chickens for several years, this is the first time they’ve entered them in the fair.
FAIR PREPS have kept Rohan’s schedule filled most of the summer.
On top of the two or so hours a day he spends working with his animals — in particular, his goats, Stripes and Big Boy, and pigs, Tank and Petunia — Rohan dedicates at least two hours a day for the open class entries, such as the wreath quilt, and the ceramic bowl he molded, painted and baked out of clay.
His mother had taught him to sew “just for fun” so Rohan has begun to dabble in quilt-making.
His first one last year, a boat quilt, was used as a baby’s blanket.
“I don’t know what I’ll do with the wreath quilt,” he said.
He also helps in the garden, and last fall assisted his parents in canning dried apple chips, sprinkled with cinnamon.
“We’ve done it 10 or 20 times before,” he noted.
“We figured, if we’re doing it anyway, we might as well do it for the fair,” Katrina added.
KATRINA IS grateful for the guidance her family received from the other City Slickers members as Rohan slowly became acclimated to presenting projects for judging.
“Last year, we really had no idea what was going on,” Katrina laughed. “The Nemeceks and Grisiers are part of our 4-H club. Without them, it would have been a mess.”
For example, Rohan learned the easiest ways to wash and groom the pigs and goats prior to showing them, “things we weren’t necessarily aware of,” Katrina said.
AND while Rohan enjoys getting to see his friends at the Fairgrounds, he figures his favorite parts will be showing his goats.
Of the goats his family raises, Rohan quickly picked out two for his fair entries.
“I like Stripes because he follows me around, and I like Big Boy because he’s big,” he said.
Family vacations, meanwhile, offered multiple opportunities for Rohan to snap a number of pictures, such as at the Great Smoky Mountains and Hawaii.
“I’ve got 20 to 30 pictures,” he said.
Rohan and his parents will carefully pore through his collection to determine which would curry favor with the judges.
“It depends on how they look when we blow them up,” he explained.
THE 2017 fair is different from past renditions in that all of the entries and judging will be condensed into four days, rather than spread out over a week.
“He’ll enter his animals on a Thursday, and turn around and show his pigs that evening,” Katrina noted. “It’ll be hectic.”
Rohan also will be kept busy with his obligations as a member of the Iola swim team, which ends its season Saturday with a league meet in Iola.
Saturday also is the day for 4-H’ers to help clean out the fairground facilities for next week.
“We’ll be doing a lot of running back and forth,” Katrina said.
The 2017 Allen County Fair opens July 25 with the 4-H Style Revue before the setting moves to the Fairgrounds at Riverside Park.
Judging begins July 27 and runs through July 30, with a number of concerts, a two-night rodeo and other events running simultaneously.
The fair concludes with a mud run at Wide Open Speed Park Aug. 5.
