4-H Expo even better than last year

By MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer

July 21, 2008 10:57 am

— OTTUMWA — This year’s Wapello County 4-H Expo was better because of last year’s 4-H Expo.
“We knew what we were doing this year — It went a lot smoother,” said Randy Conrad, the Wapello County expo board president.
The lessons they learned came in 2007, the first Wapello County 4-H Expo to be held indoors at Bridge View Center.
This year, Jacob Swanson, 16, had two roles at the expo. He was both a 4-H participant and vice president of the youth council that helped put on the event. Between those roles, Swanson has been at the event every day. He showed rabbits, poultry, pigs, even his dog. His animals won several awards.
But Saturday night, he was on Bridge View Center’s back terrace helping serve barbecue. He said he and his fellow council members had been going wherever they were needed. And that running around has been easier in the BVC facility.
“We’re more used to Bridge View,” said Swanson. “We know the rules better [and] Bridge View takes care of us pretty well!”
Nearby, two diners who heard Swanson talking about the expo whispered to him to mention air conditioning. And yes, both Swanson and Conrad said they’d heard plenty of such comments. People like attending the expo indoors because of the air-conditioned comfort.
“It’s definitely cooler compared to the lagoons,” Swanson said. “It’s more compact and visitor friendly.”
“It went good. We had good crowds,” said Conrad.
Iowa State Extension official Himar Hernandez said neither extension nor 4-H members really keep tabs on how many guests attend. But he and Conrad felt attendance looked at least equal to last year’s.
ISU Extension intern Kala Barre said participation in events by 4-H kids was up in some areas, down in others, and overall, appeared about even compared to last year.
There were some changes, though, for 2008.
“Taste of Iowa is new, and it looks pretty successful to me,” said Barre, who herself was standing in line to try some of the food samples set up by vendors.
A newly required hand-washing station ordered by government mandate was actually seeing a lot of use in the animal-stall area.
And Hernandez was pleased with the turnout for a fairly new event: the salsa competition.
“Last year, we had three participants make salsa, and maybe five tasters,” he said.
This year, there were 15 salsas — from sweet pineapple to spicy pepper — to choose from, and possibly 100 people stopped to try them, he said.
Among the contestants were people born in Iowa as well as those born in Mexico and El Salvador, he said.
“The thought is, we want to include diversity,” said Hernandez. “But ... this can be done anywhere. Salsa is universal.”
Organizers say they’ve heard nothing but positive reviews about having their event at BVC.
Of course, there are a few things some of the youngsters miss about hosting the expo outdoors, like bringing their tents and camping overnight right on site with bonfires and games, Swanson said. But the advantages of what he called “the nicest facility in Iowa” to hold an expo outweigh the loss of hauling their campers along to the expo.
“We miss that, but it’s definitely worth it,” he said.
Youth and adult board members will be able to breathe easier now that the 2008 expo ended Sunday.
But their break will only be so long; plans for Expo 2009 will start to be made in the next couple of months.
“In September, we’ll go through and see what we need to do different [and discuss] what people liked and what people didn’t like,” said Conrad.
Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mgnewman@mchsi.com.

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