GC Newsletter July 2026

July 3 - Office Closed (Observe 4th of July)

July 13 - Pre-Entry Forms, Bred & Fed, Fashion Show Papers & Yield Grade Contest Money DUE!

July 15 - Clothing Day (Construction Judging & Fashion Revue): 9:00 Judging at Elementary School; 5:00 Public Show at the GC Nursing Home

July 18 - Shooting Sports Fair Shoot @ Pumpkin Hall (BB Gun, Air Rifle, Jr Archery)

July 24 - Drop/Add day for ALL Fair Entries

July 25 - Shooting Sports Fair Shoot @ Trap House (.22 Rifle, .22 Pistol, Shot Gun, Sr Archery)

July 26 - Fairground Clean-up Day @ 6:00 p.m.

2026 Garden County Fair Dates - July 28th through August 2nd

In order to participate in the fair, you will need to fill out the appropriate forms that are linked below. They are different this year. You can put both livestock and static on one paper. While this may mean more papers for some of our youth that take a lot of projects, in the end, it will actually reduce paper because not everyone will have two! I think it is self-explanatory, but if you are not understanding the new form, please let us know!

Please call the office at any time at (308)772-3311 (leave a message) if you have any questions or problems.

FORMS MUST BE TURNED IN BY MONDAY AT 4:00 P.M. OR YOU WILL BE ASSESSED A FINE FOR EACH PAPER YOU WANT TO TURN IN AFTER THAT DATE.

NO PAPERS = NO PARTICIPATION AT FAIR!

All animal registrations (dog, cat, poultry, rabbit, horse, beef, sheep, goat & swine) must have tag numbers with the correct youth. If you are showing two beef, each beef needs to be registered. Please make sure that you sign up for the correct age division when you are signing up for Showmanship classes, Shooting Sports, & all Horse classes!

You can stop by the office to get your hard copy of the fairbook. The digital version is also on the website! Click the button below to access it.

If your child participated in Little Hands, Big Hearts 4-H Club, Summer CHAMPS, or LOG N Camp, we made some projects that qualify for fair. Check out our list below and see if your kids have any of these projects that are already done!!

Drop/Add Date is up until Friday, July 24th at noon.

If you forgot to add a project, you can call or email us to add it. Projects cannot be added the day of fair so double check you have everything - including showmanship, record book, etc.

Decided that your are not going to be able to get your project done in time or things are just not working out with your animal, please call us and let us know you are not bringing it. We save paper and time trying to figure out how to arrange things if we have a more accurate count so appreciate any calls to delete any extra projects!

Garden County 4-H Shirts are available on pre-order for a limited time. We do not do post-fair orders so this is your only chance to get one!! (Orders are due on Wednesday, July 15th.) Each participating 4-H youth will receive a free shirt. Any additional shirts are $10 per shirt. Please fill out the form below only if you wish to purchase additional shirts!! Shirt sizes for 4-H youth have been pulled off of 4hOnline. If you want to check your youth's shirt size, please check on 4hOnline. If you want to change that size, you must CALL the office to change it! We would appreciate any and all attempts to pay for shirts BEFORE fair to make the handing out process easier! Checks can be made out to the Garden County 4-H Council. Thank you!

The Garden County Communications Contest was held on May 6th in Oshkosh. Youth competing have the opportunity to choose from a variety of areas including prepared speeches, impromptu speeches, individual or group presentations, video presentations, and recorded PSAs. This year we had nine Garden County youth with a total of 13 projects presented.

Those participating at the county level were:

Blair Van Newkirk with a Clover Kids Speech - "What I Love About Dance" earning a rainbow ribbon;

Axel Wesch with a Clover Kids Speech – “Goats” earning a rainbow ribbon;

AJ Beberniss with a Video “How to Raise a Fish”- purple and PSA “How to Raise a Fish” – purple;

Chris Paisley with a PSA "Showing Animals Means Ready Today, Leading Tomorrow" - purple;

Tyson Paisley with a Video Presentation “Big Projects Today, Bigger Success Tomorrow” - purple;

Barrett Van Newkirk with a Prepared Speech - "Ready Today, Leading Tomorrow" – purple, a PSA “Ready Today, Leading Tomorrow” – purple;

Jackson Wesch with a Prepared Speech “What I Love About 4-H” and Impromptu Speech which he drew the topic How has 4-H prepared you to be successful once you are out of high school? – blue;

Barrett Van Newkirk and Hayes Wesch did a group Illustrated Presentation “Showmanship 101: Smallest to Biggest” – purple.

Those with purple ribbons are eligible to move on to state contest being held in Lincoln June 16 and 17th.

Congratulations and great work to all that participated in this year’s Communication Contest!

Youth that received purple ribbons at the local level were eligible to compete in June at the State Premier Communications Contest in Lincoln. Those sending digital exhibits were not required to be in attendance.

Sending their projects to the next level were:

Chris Paisley - Jr PSA - Purple

Barrett Van Newkirk - Jr PSA - Purple (top 5)

Tyson Paisley - Int Video - Blue

AJ Beberniss - Sr PSA - Blue; Sr Video - Blue in 4th Place

Congrats to all of our local participants for doing so well at State!!

If you have sewn something - quilts included or completed Shopping in Style, all judging takes place on Construction/Fashion Revue Day - July 15th. Documentation needed for this judging day at the Elementary School is listed & linked below.

Please turn in any Modeling Scripts as soon as you can so we can organize our book!

If you plan to participate in the Bred and Fed competition, you need to check out the Bred and Fed Newsletter below!

Note: There is one paper - the affidavit due on July 13th. It requires your producers signature so don't wait until the night before.

Any market beef is eligible to participate in the Yield Grade contest for a Belt Buckle. You need to put the class on your Pre-Fair entry form AND pay $10 per calf by July 13th. Checks can be made out Garden County 4-H. No late entries accepted on this one so double check!!

Ultrasounds take place as soon as your calf is weighed in at the fairgrounds at fair.

All large animal livestock participants are eligible to participate in the Record Book Contest. The top record book for Juniors receives a check for $25, Intermediates for $50, and Seniors for $75. Must be turned in on Friday at 8:00 - same time as Bred and Fed paperwork.

To get a copy of the record books, they can be found on the Bred and Fed Newsletter (link is above as well). Please add the Record Book Class to your entry form so that we have an idea on how many Judges to recruit! There has been a change as well so be sure to read the note found about adding extra information/changing formatting with the links!

If you are participating in the livestock sale, you are asked to reach out to 2 buyers to PERSONALLY invite them to the sale (a family with more than one child needs to sign up for 3-4 buyers). Many buyers determine if they will come or not based on this personal invite. This may be the person that buys your animal or it may not! BUT the more buyers we can get there, the better the sale goes.

We have a list of past buyers that you can sign up to go talk to along with a postcard and a little gift. New suggestions for buyers are welcome as well! It is a first come, first serve sign up.

The List and Gifts will be available starting JULY 9th.

Fairground clean-up participation is REQUIRED if you want to sell an animal. We have our next clean-up on July 26th at 6:00 p.m. IT IS IMPERATIVE that you BRING YOUR OWN TOOLS! We do not have tools at the fairgrounds. Youth need to participate in order for the clean-up to count so it is very important that you bring supplies for them to do a job! Jobs at this clean-up will need brooms, small buckets and rags, dish detergent, hot water, brooms, rakes, scoop shovels, MOWERS, WEED EATERS,

Due to such a large number of participants at the first clean-up, Livestock Committee is willing to pay insurance on market animals at the fair for any 4-H members that attend both clean-ups if they help MOW OR WEED EAT. Each youth must pay $8 to $10 per animal for insurance while at the fair - it is taken out of your sale check. Last year we had two people moving for over 3 hours because so few people showed up at the second one with mowers and it looks like it will happen again! So if you were at the first clean-up and bring your mower/weed eater back again on July 26th, we will pay for your insurance fees! More money from the sale for you!!

sportsYou is our primary source of communication that allows families to connect with each other & have access to important forms for fair & has an open calendar with all the upcoming events that you will need to know.

The app can be downloaded on your mobile device from your App Store (apple) or Google Play Store (android).

Once you have downloaded the app, you will need to Create an Account.

In order to join a team (Garden County 4-H), you will need to put in the access code 4BRK-J243

We cannot make this program work without volunteers. Whether you are an adult or a youth, there is a place for you!! Join the team and make difference.

4-H Council - meets every other month and works to get awards, make decisions around 4-H programs and the fair, and helps and advises the Extension Office throughout the year. Call the office if interested.

4-H and FFA Livestock Committee - youth and adults are welcome to participate. They make decisions around fairground maintenance and improvements while also running the livestock shows. They meet every other month or as needed. Call the office if interested.

4-H Youth Council - any jr high or high school youth that wishes to make a difference in Garden County has the opportunity to participate. We meet about 4-5 times a year. Deadline to apply was in November. If you missed the application deadline but want to participate, please contact Sarah.

The Garden County 4-H and Livestock Council play a big part in helping to prepare for the County Fair every year. If you are interested in joining or are wanting to learn more information, please contact Sarah at (308) 772-3311 or via email spaisley3@unl.edu

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Garden County Staff are here to serve you!

Use our website below as a valuable resource for information on Beef Systems, Community Environment Community Vitality, Crop and water systems, Food Nutrition and health, and The Learning Child.

Extension is a Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln cooperating with the Counties and the United States Department of Agriculture.

The 4-H Youth Development program abides with the nondiscrimination policies of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the United States Department of Agriculture.

Website: go.unl.edu/garden4h
Location: PO Box 350, 611 Main St., Oshkosh, NE 69154
Phone: 308-772-3311
Facebook: facebook.com/gardenco4h