SHOSHONE, Idaho — Fair season is underway in the Magic Valley, and it started in Lincoln County, where young Idahoans showed off months of hard work raising livestock.
Reagan Christiansen has brought a pig to the fair 11 years in a row. This year, for the first time, her pig took home Grand Champion honors.
"This is Thunder Chud. I got her in February," Christiansen said.
"I just think it's super fun with all the competition. Our fair is super competitive, especially with the line. It's always super fun just to be competitive with everyone," Christiansen said.
As a recent high school graduate, this is the last year Christiansen can participate in 4H, something her mother, Natalie, called bittersweet.
"We got six kids go through here, and we're here with our last one, our last year this year, so it's our last year," Natalie said.
The lessons learned while raising livestock each year build accountability, and in Lincoln County, 4H becomes like a family.
"It's a lot of fun with all the kids and everybody bringing their best...you know, their best work that they've done all summer and their project that they worked on so hard so it's fun," Natalie said.
On Friday afternoon, the final animal competition was held: a round-robin, where each champion showman competed with six different species.
Lydia Weber raised a grand champion steer named Moose.
"He's got a nice square structure his tail super square he's got big fluffy legs. He's got a super round belly and he's nice in front heavy on his brisket right here," Weber said.
This is Weber's second time competing in the steer competition, and she was pleased to have a champion heading into the final events.
"Tonight I have a parade of champions, so I'll go in the rodeo and then tomorrow we have our sale," Weber said.
Mashelle Barlowe, 4H coordinator for Lincoln County, explained how the round-robin competition works.
"The round robin is six species, goat, beef, sheep, horse, Dairy, and Twin, and they each the grand champion from each one of those species shows their own animal, and then the rest of them are the luck of the draw," Barlowe said.
"It's really fun for the kids because they get that opportunity to show off their showmanship," Barlowe said.
The Minidoka County Fair is coming up next, starting July 26.
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