LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Before anyone can come to a fair to enjoy the food or the entertainment, there are months of prep work that goes into making it possible, especially by the students involved in the 4-H program.
"We do a lot of getting ready, a little bit of everything, yeah, making sure the barns are ready to bring animals in, putting animal pens up," said Ryan Hineline & Jayden Casterline, Luzerne County 4-H.
"Getting the cow barn done. We have to lay shavings down," said Kaiden Hineline, Shickshinny.
Once the barns are ready, it's time to load the animals in, get them their essentials, ease them into their new environments for the next few days, and prepare for competition.
"I'm doing gaming classes, costume classes, showmanship, pleasure. I think that's it," said Emily Hanson, Wapwallopen.
Ben Hineline says it says the animals are by far his favorite part about being a 4-H kid and took us around to make sure we new the rules on our interactions with them, "These are alpacas. They're most likely really silly. Just don't touch their heads or their rears, or they'll get angry. So come on. I'll show you one cow that's really nice. We just gotta give a little smell and then a little pet right there. She loves pets, but she won't kick you out all. She's really nice. She won't hurt anyone. It's just that if you try to be mean to her, she won't like it. And she's really kind of head shy, but people that she knows she's, she's totally fine with it."
Silliness aside, many of the students raise and care for these animals with the goal of competing to win best in show, with some even selling their animals at the best price. These 4-H members say they wish more young people would get involved.
"Agriculture is so important, just the food, raising animals, continuing the long line of farmers that came before us. And trying to carry on these traditions today. Not a lot of young people are doing that anymore, and it's important to keep it going because, without our farmers, we don't have any food. We don't have these animals." said Kaiden.
And if animals aren't really your thing, there are a lot of other options for you, too.
"There's a rifle club, dog, cats, I've done horses at one point, chickens, sewing projects, wood projects, pretty much like, everything there is, yeah," added Kaiden.
To learn more about a 4-H Club near you, click here.