JULY 2007

Upcoming Events

July 4 . . . . . . . . . . Office Closed - Happy Independence Day!
July 5 . . . . . . . . . . State Achievement Days Registration Deadline
July 10-13 . . . . . . 4-H Club Family Days at Waldameer
July 18 . . . . . . . . . Teen Council Picnic, Beach 6 Presque Isle
July 21 . . . . . . . . . 2nd Horse Qualifier, Erie Hunt & Saddle Club
July 21-22 . . . . . . Relay For Life - McDowell High School
July 23 . . . . . . . . . 4-H/Youth Development Advisory Committee Meeting, 7:00 p.m.
July 24-26 . . . . . . 4-H State Achievement Days at Penn State
July 30 . . . . . . . . . NW 4-H Horse Production Show - Mercer 4-H Park
August 1 . . . . . . . .Roundup Entries Due (Dog, General Project, Rabbit & Cavy, Breeding Livestock)
August 1 . . . . . . . Outstanding 4-H Horse Member Applications Due
August 8 . . . . . . . 4-H Fair Worknight, Waterford Fairgrounds, 6:30 p.m.
August 10-12 . . . Erie County 4-H Fair, Roundup & MDA Carnival, Waterford Fairgrounds
September 6 . . . . 4-H Livestock Sale, Waterford Fairgrounds
September 23 . . . 4-H Zoo Day at the Erie Zoo
October 20 . . . . . 4-H Outdoors Field Day at Presque Isle State Park/Tom Ridge Env. Center

THIS IS YOUR FAIR NOTICE

Your Erie County 4-H Fair Catalog has been mailed to your family's home. Please take some time to read through it and learn about all of the great things happening at this year's Fair. Don't forget to read the Rules carefully and determine what you need to do in order to be properly entered in the Roundup events. There are separate entry forms for Dog Roundup, Rabbit & Cavy Roundup, Breeding Livestock Roundup, and General Projects Roundup (sewing, cooking, rocketry, model horse, gardening and more). If you are participating in the horse, dairy or market livestock roundups, your entries have already been made. All other entries are due to the office no later than Weds., August 1. We are so excited to be planning this year's Fair for you, and we look forward to seeing each and every one of you there!

Don't forget the following club activities taking place at the Fair as well:

4-H Club Exhibits - The theme for Club Exhibits this year is "4-H In My Community." Think about how your club can best express this theme in a display to be exhibited in the Home Show building during the Fair. Top place ribbons will be awarded, and this is a great opportunity to share with others what goes on in your club. If your club plans to display a club exhibit, please call Jenn at 825-0900 by Weds., August 1.

MDA Carnival - We anticipate seeing every 4-H club hosting a carnival game of their choosing during our annual program-wide community service fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Each club can have one, two or even three carnival booths set-up in the commercial building on Saturday afternoon of the Fair, while general projects judging is going on. The club who sells the most tickets will earn the opportunity to present all of the money earned by appearing on TV during the MDA Telethon on Labor Day. Contact Janice at 825-0900 to inform her of your club carnival booth game choices for this year so that we can plan enough space for everyone.

Super Happy Fun Team Activities - Before the Carnival starts this year, we will have Super Happy Fun Team activity time at the Fair. Organize a group (or two, three, etc.) from your club to compete in silly and fun activities as a team. Teen Council is busy making this a great event, we are sure you will have a super time! See the flyer enclosed with this month's Banner for more information.

We hope to see you at many of the Erie County 4-H Fair events this summer!

4-H FAIR WORKNIGHT

On Weds., August 8, we will be meeting at the fairgrounds to prepare for the 4-H Fair the following weekend. Please join us starting at 6:30 p.m. to help us set up tables; sweep out the Home Show building, spread sawdust, clean the grounds, and more. We appreciate all help that we can get from teens, volunteers and all 4-H members!

RELAY FOR LIFE

The Relay For Life is set to kick off at Noon on Sat., July 21, continuing through 9:00 a.m. the next day, at McDowell High School. This event is a fun- filled way to support the fight against cancer. Erie County 4-H will have a large tent at the track stocked with pizza and drinks and entertainment such as live bands and games will continue all day. Participants are reminded to collect donations and turn the money in at the event. If you have not already registered, it's not too late, contact Stephanie at
825-0900 to sign up.

UPCOMING 4-H EVENTS!!

Mark your calendars for two great 4-H events coming up this fall in Erie County:

4-H Zoo Day at the Erie Zoo - Sun., September 23 (1:00 - 5:00 p.m. ten-tatively). For a minimal cost (less than usual zoo entry fees) you and your family/friends will be able to experience a great day at the zoo, including hands-on activities and live animal demonstrations just for
4-H'ers, as well as free snacks and drinks, and a free train/carousel ride (depending on the weather). Oh what fun! Keep an eye out for more information coming soon!

4-H Outdoors Field Day at Presque Isle State Park - Sat., October 20. In its second year, 4-H Outdoors Field Day offers a great opportunity to sign up for a variety of activities from fishing and outdoor cooking to hiking and painting on the beach. We will also have lunch at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center and watch the latest large format movie on the Big Green Screen. Registrations for this event will come out before the end of the summer, don't miss out!

STATE ACHIEVEMENT DAYS - LAST CALL

Registration forms to participate in this year's State Achievement Days at Penn State are due before the end of business hours on Thurs., July 5. If you have qualified to participate in a contest, or would like to participate in one of the many contests and events that you don't need to qualify for, please ask your leader for a copy of the form today or contact the office to have one sent to you ASAP. This year, the cost for Erie County members to participate is $85, which is a big discount com-pared to the actual cost to attend of $125, as well as the fact that we are providing transportation. All registra-tion materials must be submitted to the office by Thurs., July 5, at 4:30 p.m. You can view the details of each contest online at: http://pa4h. cas.psu.edu/77.htm.

OUTSTANDING 4-H HORSE MEMBER AWARD

Applications for the 2007 Outstand-ing PA 4-H Horse Member Award are now available. Contact your club leader or the office to obtain a copy. Applicants for the Outstanding Mem-ber Award must be at least 15 years old as of January 1 of the current year and must be in at least their third year of membership in the 4-H horse program. Members currently enrolled in any 4-H horse project are eligible.

Ownership of a horse is not manda-tory for completing an application. This award is to recognize an outstanding 4-H member active in the 4-H horse/horse science program. Emphasis is on the member and his/her participation in the horse program, plus his/her leadership and impact on club, county and com-munity in general. Finalists will be recognized during the State 4-H Horse Show. The member with the highest-scoring entry will receive a tack trunk (or similar item). Applications in Erie County are due to the office no later than Weds., August 1.

We've been trying now for some time to generate some enthusiastic, posi-tive energy within our Erie County
4-H Alumni. We know you're out there, and many of you are already volunteers or parents within our program. Won't you share your stories about when you were in 4-H, as well as those about where you are in your life now after 4-H?

As youth educators, we work hard to provide our 4-H members with positive development activities to be a part of, and we design these activities to help provide our members with the skills they will some day need as adults in our community. Occasionally we read about former 4-H'ers in the news or we hear about them through the grapevine, but we would love to hear, straight from you, about all of your successes and how Erie County 4-H has helped you beyond your time as 4-H members. Please consider taking the time to share your stories with us, remind us of which events had the greatest impact on your lives, and what things you think youth in our community could benefit from as part of today's 4-H membership.

If you would like to join the Erie County 4-H Alumni Organization, please contact Jenn at the office today!

Erie County 4-H Teen Council had their June meeting at the Waterford Boro building. All members were excited to meet the new summer assistant Stephanie Rzepka. Welcome aboard Stephanie!! We are trying to hold a car wash in August. Members are all looking forward to many exciting activities this year; like participating in Relay For Life and our summer picnic on July 18 at Beach 6!! If you would like to participate in Relay For Life this year and/or donate money to help support the American Cancer Society, contact Stephanie at the office. We also brainstormed about different ways to promote Super Happy Fun Team Activities at the 4-H Fair in late summer and what kind of games we would play. Keep an eye out for all of the fun activities Teen Council has planned!!

The Beefer's plus 4-H Club members had their monthly meeting at the firehall. We discussed the upcoming 4-H Fair. Our club will be in charge of checking project books. Members were reminded of the Quality Assurance on June 24 at Waterford Fairgrounds. Our club will once again sponsor a banner at the Fair. We are going to continue our Erie Times-News fundraiser. The Willis' attended the Western New York Hog Classic in Hamburg, NY, where Kris made it to the final drive for Senior Showman. Our next meeting will be our club picnic at the Hess'.

Mountaintop 4-H Club had our last meeting on Thurs., June 14, at 6:00 p.m. at the Fritz'. Mrs. Fritz put on a wonderful Quality Assurance point session about showing a beef steer. She also included where to give a steer a vaccination and the items necessary to show a steer. Mrs. Fritz let us clip one of her show steers as well. Thank you so much Mrs. Fritz!

We started our meeting by discussing the Heritage Days Parade and new ideas we had. As a club we decided that we would go to Waldameer Park for the 4-H Family Days on Thurs., July 12. Due to this decision, we are changing our next club meeting date to Thurs., July 19, at 6:00 p.m. We will work on our float and have our family picnic. During our meeting, we also enjoyed demonstrations by Emilie and Eli Buhl and Katie, Seth and Jake Alleger.

Cloverleaf Riders 4-H Club held their June 4-H meeting at Erie Hunt and Saddle Club. It was a riding meeting. We worked on manners in and out of the riding ring and both mounted and un-mounted manners too. We also went over some etiquette to use while mounted both in and out of the arena. And, most of all, SAFETY practices were of the utmost importance.

We discussed our upcoming horse camp at the end of July. We talked about the 2nd Qualifier, which our club hosts. Also we had a lot of talk about our TREC show to be held Sun., July 29, at the Erie Hunt and Saddle Club -- Hope to see you there!

Horsin' Around 4-H Club's last meeting was held on June 13. At the meeting we discussed many things, including how our clinic went. This year the clinic went great, and we had a larger turnout than last year. Thank you to everyone who came to the clinic, and thank you to everyone who helped out at the clinic. We then had short discussions about horse judging and State Days. Then we all talked about the change in the horse show class list and discussed the rules. We ordered project books and scheduled barn checks. We then decided on a date for our summer trail ride, which will be at the Pennsylvania and New York border. Our next meeting is a riding meeting at the Albion Fairgrounds on Weds., June 20, at 6:00 p.m. The meeting after that will be held on Weds., August 1.

The Erie County 4-H Exchange Club is hosting 4-H members from Minnesota in June this year. We will be going to many places. We will be having lunch with the Amish, touring Troyer Farms, going to Waldameer, the Peninsula, the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, Canada, Millcreek Mall and Pymatuning. There will also be a day to spend doing whatever we want to do by ourselves. Next summer we will travel to Minnesota. Anyone interested contact Jenn at the office, new faces are always welcome.

Please note the following change: To get your news in the Banner, send
your articles by the 20th of the month to jrf21@psu.edu.

Sincerely,

Shawn E. Graves
Urban 4-H/Youth Agent
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