MINNESOTA 4-H. In This Issue:

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1 MINNESOTA 4-H CLOVER UPDATE BENTON COUNTY JULY 2016 In This Issue: 4-H county fair exhibitor tips & natural resource projects webinar CONTACT US P.O. Box 650 Foley, MN /Benton Welcome to our Summer Staff New Horse Family Orientation Fair Registration & Auction Forms Due...3 Lunchstand Managers Needed... 3 July Committee Meetings....4 Summer Day Camps H Project Records Pie Making Day Benton Clover University Judges Assistant Help Exhibit Building Project Set Up Lunchstand Dress Code Reminder LQA&E State Fair Meeting Calendar , Regents of the University of Minnesota. University of Minnesota Extension is an equal opportunity educator and employer. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, this publication/material is available in alternative formats upon request. Direct requests to

2 PAGE 2 4-H county fair exhibitor tips and natural resource projects webinar 4-H exhibitors: Are you ready for county fair exhibit judging? Are you curious what 4-H judges are looking for? Are you interested in natural resources? Are you looking for natural resources project ideas? This webinar will first give you insights and tips from 4-H exhibit judge and Extension educator Gary Wyatt for preparing and presenting your 4- H exhibits for county fair judging. You will learn about how to best tell the story of your 4-H exhibit to the judge and there will be time for your questions. Then, in the second part of this webinar, Gary will talk specifically about his personal and professional area of interest, natural resources. He will share information and encourage you to explore any of several current and relevant topics that would make great 4-H learning opportunities and exhibits. There will be another question and answer period after this second part of the webinar. The entire webinar is expected to last about minutes, beginning at 10 a.m. on July 12. Suggested connect time is between 9:30 and 9:45 a.m. For those unable to attend, the webinar will be recorded and posted later at To access this webinar by computer: Go to webex.umn.edu - enter meeting number and click Join. Follow any prompts to run or install WebEx/Cisco software. Once you ve joined the meeting, click the popup to join the audio conference. You can test your computer s speakers by clicking on the menu bar at the top Audio, then Test Computer Audio. To access this webinar by smartphone: Go to webex.umn.edu Click on Join by Number Unless you have previously installed the WebEx App, you will be prompted to install it. Once the WebEx App is installed, you will then be able to enter meeting number and join the meeting. Please feel free to pass this information along to anyone who may be interested. Learn more at Any questions about the content can be directed to Gary Wyatt at wyatt@umn.edu or Any questions about connecting to the webinar, including testing connections and equipment ahead of time, can be directed to Todd Mehrkens at toddmehr@umn.edu or Welcome to our Summer Intern & Summer Assistant! In our June newsletter we introduced our summer intern Cassie Larson. Now we would like to introduce or 2016 summer assistant Luke Vannurden. Both are active 4-H members in their last years of participation and have a vast knowledge of our 4-H program. I am excited to welcome them on staff this summer and look forward to working with them now and in the future. Please take a moment and introduce yourselves if you meet them at future events. Here is a short welcome from Cassie & Luke to get to know them a little more.

3 PAGE 3 Hello! My name is Cassie Larson and I am returning as the Benton County Summer Intern for my second year. I had such a great experience with the 4-H program my entire life, I wanted to continue my experience even further. I am currently attending college at Bemidji State University, pursing a degree in Elementary Education with a Pre-Primary Endorsement. With working as the Summer Intern for my second year, I love the fact that I get to work with youth and also do something that I love all summer! I look forward to all the fun that the 4-H Program has to offer for me this summer! Hello! My name is Luke Vannurden and I am the Benton County Summer Assistant. I have been in 4-H for ten years and have enjoyed every experience that has come my way. I will be a senior this next year at Sauk Rapids-Rice High school. 4-H has given me so many opportunities and leadership experiences that I wanted to apply for this position. The things that I am most excited for this summer are the learning experiences that come along with the position and the people I will meet! I am so thrilled to be able to learn even more about what 4-H has to offer and the continual opportunities available. See you around this summer! New Horse Family Orientation A new horse family orientation will be held on Thursday, July 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Benton County fairgrounds. All new families to the horse project are encouraged to attend. The orientation will cover what to expect at the fair, how to best prepare and other information that is helpful to new families. Fair Registrations & Auction Forms due! Fair Registration Forms are due to the Extension Office by Monday, July 11th. It is up to the 4-H family to connect with your club leader to receive your registration materials. NEW starting this year fair registrations can be completed online. Therefore you can register for County Fair in one of two ways: 1 Use your county fair registration FORM. This was given to club leaders with your premium books. Use this form and find the class codes from the premium book to register for EACH project you anticipate bringing to the County Fair. OR 2 Use the online version that our county is piloting: You will login into this system using your 4HOnline & password. You will pick the classes for projects you plan to bring to the fair. Remember to put in the class/code for EACH project you plan to bring (ex: if you are bringing two photography projects register for it twice). A help guide was included with each registration form and can be found online. It is up to the 4-H family to connect with your club leader to receive your registration materials. Filling out your fair registration forms are the only way we will know what exhibits you plan on taking to the fair. If you need help, please ask your club leader or the Extension office before the deadline! Lunchstand Managers 2016 The Lunchstand will once again be hiring managers for the 2016 Fair Season. Please call the Extension Office at for more information. These are paid positions. Fair Registrations and Auction forms are due to the Extension Office by Monday, July 11th.

4 PAGE 4 Committee Meetings July 24 The July committee meetings will be held on Sunday, July 24, 2016 at the First Presbyterian Church in Foley. The committees that will be meeting this month are listed below with the start time for each meeting. Feel free to attend other meetings if you are interested in joining or learning more about other areas. 5:00 p.m. Ambassador Meeting Lunchstand Committee Meeting Small & Exotic Animals 6:00 p.m. Livestock Committee Meeting 7:00 p.m. Auction Committee Meeting Benton County Summer Day Camps Get ready to discover five different and exciting topics this summer through experiments, projects, crafts and guaranteed fun while making new friends! The two topics/themes to be covered in July include: CSI Science Investigations - July 12 & 14 SuperHeros in Flight (Drones will hopefully be used this day) - July 21 Cost is $8/camper/day with a $16/family/day maximum 2016 DATES & LOCATIONS Foley Intermediate High School 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. - Lunch provided by the school Tuesday, July 12 - CSI Science Investigations Tuesday, July 19 - Superheros in Flight Sauk Rapids Municipal Park 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (please bring a bag lunch) Thursday, July 14 - CSI Science Investigations Thursday, June 21 - Superheros in Flight Registration is required. No walk-ins will be allowed. Each camper will need to bring a water bottle. 4-H Project Records What exactly is a 4-H project? A 4-H project is set up to be a yearlong learning process. 4-H projects are supposed to start in the fall when a 4-H member sets learning goals for the year. Then the member actually does a learning project. The project can be anything including workshops, book reading, fair projects, etc. After the learning is completed, then the member should reflect upon what they did. A 4-H project record is the best way to track and reflect on project learning. They really help make the projects come full circle. 4-H projects should not be just about the fair exhibit or the premium, it really needs to be focused on learning, doing and reflecting. Benton County 4-H is making a push to get more youth to complete records. Part of that is a new record implementation guide, and new project specific records. The implementation Guide can be found online at Project specific project records can be downloaded online from or requested in paper form from the Extension Office. 4-H records are due October 14th, members completing records will be eligible for prizes.

5 PAGE 5 Pie Making Day Date July 28th from 9:00 AM done. Each club should have at least one adult and two youth help out, but the more the merrier! Please bring along a bowl, rolling pins, measuring cups, apron, apple peeler and slicer (if you have one) and something to tie/cover your hair with. We are in need of both experienced and new pie makers! Don t be late, so you can catch the pie making demonstration right away at 9:00! It is required that each club has representatives at this event! Benton Clover University Attention All New 4-H Members & Cloverbuds! We have a special event coming up that is just for you, Benton Clover University. This event will start at 4:00 p.m. on July 28th, meeting at the 4-H Exhibit Building. Registration is required by July 23rd, and the cost is $2 per participant. Contact the Extension Office for more information! Judges Assistants Needed Have you ever wondered how a certain project area is judged? Are you interested in a different project area? How about you just want to volunteer your time? If that is the case please sign up to be a 4-H Judges Assistant! An assistant can be a youth or adult who helps out on the exhibit day. Assistants place exhibit cards and stickers on projects, record on the judge s sheet the ribbons placing and help put together the display for that project area. Lunch will be provided for judges assistants. For more information or to sign up, please call Luke at ! Exhibit Building Set Up Help August 1 4-H is in need of some volunteers to help set the exhibit building on Monday, August 1st at 4:30p.m. Adult volunteers will be arranging each project area to look nice for the opening day of the fair. Come for the entire time or a short period of time to help out. Please contact the office for more information! Lunchstand Dress Reminder Don t forget that we need to follow a dress code for health reasons as put out by the Minnesota Department of Health. Hair must be pulled back, feel free to bring your own baseball cap or bandana, otherwise a hairnet will be provided. Anyone who shows up to work wearing flip flops will not be allowed to work until they can find better shoes. Livestock Quality Assurance & Ethics (LQA&E) If you missed the training that Benton County hosted in March and need it yet, please visit to find a session in another county. This training is required to show livestock at the Minnesota State Fair, and it is good for three years. If you are unsure of your LQA&E status, call the Extension Office at sooner, rather than later. State Fair Meeting The State Fair meetings will again all be held on Sunday of the County Fair. General Exhibitors will meet at 1:00 p.m. and the livestock exhibitors will meet at 2:30 p.m. Families are strongly encouraged to pick up your state fair packets from the 4-H exhibit building during the fair (you can pick them up as soon as you win your trip). You are also encouraged to turn

6 PAGE 6 in your paperwork during the county fair, before the meetings (you still are required to attend the meeting) and you can also make payment. With a later county fair and an early state fair, there will be a very short turnaround time for State Fair Paperwork, it is vital that it all be 100% correct on Sunday afternoon. CALENDAR JULY 2-9 Citizenship Washington Focus 4 Office Closed Independence Day 7 New Horse Family ORientation 12 Foley Day Camp CSI Science Investigations 14 Sauk Rapids Day Camp CSI Science Investigations 19 Foley Day Camp Superhero in Flight 21 Sauk Rapids Day Camp Superhero in Flight 23 County Dog Show 24 Committee Meetings 27 Clothing Judging Day DATE CHANGE FROM IN THE PAST 27 Pre-Fair Horse Project Meeting 28 Pie Day AUGUST 1-7 Benton County Fair State Fair Livestock Encampment