Many local 4-H members did well at the county fairs this summer, including members of Wright Co.’s Northern Peak 4-H club, who won trips to the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul. 

This year was the first Macie Groth was eligible to attend the State Fair, and she won a spot after being awarded reserve grand champion at the Wright Co. Fair for her photograph of a ram taken at her family’s trip to Yellowstone this summer.

“Competing at the State Fair was definitely a change from the county fair,” said Groth. “We were in groups of four instead of by ourselves. The judge would ask a question and we would all answer.”

Groth’s group was asked questions such as what they liked about their entry, what they would change, if anything, and what inspired them to start. At the end of the questions Groth was awarded a blue ribbon.

“I was excited and proud since it was my first time being there and qualifying,” she said.

The Wagner siblings, Isaac, Josie and Cameron, qualified for the State Fair after winning a number of awards at the Wright Co. Fair. Isaac received champion in brown egg layers, reserve champion in breeding pen, and reserve champion overall with brown egg layers in poultry, and a blue ribbon for his dill pickles in food preservation.

Josie received champion in white egg layers in poultry, and blue ribbons in aerospace and food and nutrition for her chocolate cheesecake. Cameron was named reserve champion in brown egg layers.

At the State Fair Josie Wagner was awarded a blue for her cheesecake, a red in white egg layers and received eighth place in advanced showmanship for the poultry category overall. It was her second time at the State Fair.

“It’s very different competing at the State Fair,” she said. “On Wednesday we listened to a panel on poultry and then took a 30 question online test. The questions can be very difficult, especially for me as I was in the advanced category. You have to know about all types of poultry, not just your own.”

Thursday, she had a one-on-one interview where she was asked questions like why she started with white egg layers, what her flock at home looked like and more knowledge based questions. She was also judged on her poise during the interview.

Later that day was the poultry show where the birds were judged. Josie also had showmanship, where she had to demonstrate how much she knew about her birds and was judged in areas such as her speaking abilities. She was called back for the finals in showmanship.

“All the advanced division finalists were called into the ring where we each had to shake the judge’s hand and tell him about our birds,” she said. “Then we were each brought to a different bird and had to tell him everything we knew about that bird. I had a turkey.”

During the judging for her cheesecake she was in a group of four, and along with presenting her entry she was expected to ask questions of the other competitors and answer any questions they or the judge had.

“Overall I felt like I did really well,” said Josie. “I was really proud of the showmanship award.”

Isaac Wagner, who had competed at the State Fair three times previously, received a red for his brown egg layers. He also won a blue for his pickles.

“I think it went pretty well,” said Isaac. “You try to bring in birds in the prime of life, at the point when they’re producing the most eggs. My birds were pretty close to that except one, who wasn’t laying as well as she should have.”

He was judged on his pickles conference style in a group of four competitors,