Shelby Morrison is approaching her first ever Allen County Fair as a competitor with a sense of excitement, and a bit of nervousness.
Morrison, 8, will enter 12 separate projects in the 132nd Fair, which gets underway with a Friends of 4-H dinner and fashion review Tuesday evening.
On top of three sewing projects — a throw pillow, a dress and an apron — Morrison will enter four separate photos for her photography entries, two food items, a leaf identification album and her two Yorkshire hogs, Chelsea and Brunch.
“I really like the swing and the foods,” said Morrison, who is set to enter the third grade in the fall at Iola Elementary School. “I like working with animals.”
While just in her first year of 4-H, Morrison is no stranger to the Fair.
Last year, she entered photos as a Cloverbud in the open class competition, and showed a dairy calf. Cloverbuds are youths too young to compete as 4-H’ers.
The experience was enough to convince Morrison she wanted to continue participating.
And because 10 of the 12 Square B 4-H Club members are about her age, Morrison already has assumed a leadership position as the chapter’s vice president.
She hopes some of her cousins will sign on in future years.
“It’s fun,” she said.
MORRISON relied upon the help of her parents and grandparents, who know a thing or three about 4-H and the Allen County Fair.
Father Rodney and grandfather Gary Morrison both were Square B 4-H members as youths. Stepsister RaeLynn also competed in Anderson County in the past. Younger brother, Trevor Morrison, 4, is still too young to do any kind of Fair prep. His competition will consist solely of the Saturday morning pedal pull.
Shelby’s mother, Dakota, and grandmother, Rita Morrison, have been on hand to help Shelby get the hang of her newly developed skills.
In fact, Shelby’s hand-sewn pillow features an embroidered cat her grandmother had put together for her backpack last year.
“She really didn’t want to throw away the backpack because of the kitty,” Rita explained.
So Shelby measured out the dimensions, cut the embroidered picture from the old backpack and used it as the cover for the throw pillow.
The material for the floral dress came from her great-grandmothers. The yellow fabric came from Iola’s old Miller Dress Factory, Rita noted.
