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Gratiot County

Contact Us

Chris Thompson 4-H Program Coordinator Phone 989-875-5295 Email thom1367@anr.msu.edu 219 North State Street Alma, MI 48801 Main Phone 989-875-5233 Email county@msue.msu.edu Web Site http://msue.anr.msu.edu/county/info/gratiot

Gratiot County 4-H Leader’s Council The Gratiot County 4-H Leader’s Council is currently accepting nominations for the 2018-2019 program years. Watch for the current Leader’s Council members at fair to find out more about how you can help. This Council is critical to the operation of our 4-H program. They raise and distribute funds to help 4-H youth attend events that include Kettenun Center workshops and conferences like Winterfest, scholarships for Exploration Days attendees, support for delegates to National Conference, support for Cloverbud Day and more. Council also organizes the annual 4-H awards program in the above article. So, stop for a minute and talk to a current member and see how you can become a part of this rewarding part of Gratiot County 4-H! Current 4-H Leaders Council Members; Shelly Brittain-president, Shelley Cary-v.p., Michele Gibson-treasurer, Jenny Cooley-secretary, Darren Fish, Joanne Devine, Jenny Derby, youth members– Cleo Kyser, Hayley Cary and Nathan Laurenz.

The Gratiot County 4-H State Exchange

Club is now accepting

applications for its next 2 year

rotation. Applicants must be 14 years of age when the club

travels. See all guidelines on the

attached application. For

further questions contact club leader

Patty Macha @ 989-763-4246

July 27

County Awards Nominations Fair is just around the corner and that means it is time to be thinking about the county 4-H Awards program. Be on the look out for those individuals who deserve recognition for their efforts. Nomination forms will be available at fair. See the Gratiot County 4-H Leader’s Council booth or myself for a paper copy. Electronic copies will also be available on the County 4-H website. 4-H youth may be nominated for Project Awards in 54 different categories and the following awards; Achievement Award, Citizenship Award, Leadership Award, I Dare You Award, Most Deserving 4-H’er Award and 4-H Club Secretary or Treasurer Award. The remainder of the awards are for 4-H alumni, volunteers and supporters of the 4-H Program. These awards are; Green Clover Society 4-H Alumni, Friend of 4-H, Outstanding Supporter, Outstanding Volunteer and Outstanding Group. See the 4-H Awards Nomination Process that is distributed with the Nomination Form for the details on the requirements for each of these awards. Nominations may be made by 4-H Club Leaders, 4-H volunteers, 4-H youth members and parents. Let’s make sure the growth, service, leadership and outstanding efforts are recognized in the Gratiot 4-H Program. Contact myself or one of the members of the Gratiot County 4-H Leader’s Council if you have any questions. Sincerely, Chris Thompson

4-H Program Coordinator

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July 29-August 5 Gratiot County Fair for Youth

August 1 Talent Show at GCFFY (Registration Deadline July 15)

August 2-5 Michigan 4-H Health & Food Science Camp at MSU Campus

(Registration Deadline: June 1)

August 17 4-H Teen Spokesperson Training at Mid Michigan Community, Mt.

Pleasant (Registration Deadline: August 9)

August 19 State 4-H Dog Show at MSU Pavilion, East Lansing, MI (Registration

Deadline: July 21)

August 19 Breakfast on the Farm – DeSaegher Dairy, Middleton, MI — Tickets

available

after July 19

August 26 Michigan 4-H Science Expo at MSU Campus Anthony Hall

(Registration Deadline August 4 at https://events.anr.msu.edu/ScienceExpo17/)

Aug. 26-27 Global Village at Heifer Global Village at the Howell Nature Center in

Howell

(Registration Deadline August 19)

September 2 Michigan 4-H State Poultry Show, Michigan State Fair, Novi, MI

October 1 Michigan 4-H Animal Science Sportsperson of the Year Award nomi-

nation are due.

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Is your club looking for a community service project? We are going to

offer activities and educational opportunities to a RESD summer program.

We will be working with a lunch program that meets in St. Louis 5 days a

week and a lunch program that meets in Ithaca on Fridays.

We are going to try to offer a 1 hour event 1 day a week at each site. There

is sports equipment available from the RESD to host activities or you may

bring your 4-H club projects to share with the youth. This can be an outreach

and promotion or educational event. Whatever you or your club feels you can

provide. You may provide a single session, provide the same session at multi-

ple sites or oversee multiple events at the same site.

If you are interested in helping, please contact me for more details like attendance numbers and approximate ages of youth.

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Tickets are now available for Breakfast on the

Farm on Saturday, August 19, at De Saegher Dairy

in Middleton! This is a FREE event, but tickets

are required to eat breakfast. Stop by the Gratiot

MSU Extension office to pick up your tickets.

Many Volunteers are needed to help make this

event a success! Deadline for Volunteers is Au-

gust 1. Contact Chris at 989-875-5295 or

thom1367@anr.msu.edu if you would be interest-

ed in volunteering.

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GCCFY Information

2017 Fair

July 29 - August 5, 2017

http://

www.gcffy.org/

fair_forms.html.

GCFFY Plans Fair Clean UP Days Mark your calendars for Wednesday, July 19, Sunday, July 23 and Wednesday, July 26 to help GCFFY get their grounds ready for the fair and Sunday, August 6 to help GCFFY put everything away. Pre-fair clean ups start around 5:30 p.m. and each club leaders will be sent a list of projects which the fair asks their 4-H Club or FFA Chapter do as a club and to help clubs know what they can do to make the most out of fair setup. Plan to Get Your GCFFY On With Pre-Sale Carnival Wrist Bands Again this year, GCFFY is selling pre-sale carnival tickets at an amazingly great price. For just $10 you can purchase a ticket which can be redeemed for an unlimited ride daily wristband any day you choose that Maple Leaf is open during the fair. Tickets will be sold at the fair office during office hours. The weeks prior to the fair the fair office will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Additionally the fair office will be open until 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 26. Furthermore the fair office will be open on Satur-day, July 29 from 9:00 a.m. through 1:00 p.m. and Sunday, July 30 from 12:30 p.m. through 3:00 p.m. Stop by and see us to get your ride passes, parking permits and get ready to get your GCFFY On! Market Swine Weights Changed for 2017 GCFFY’s Board of Directors changed the weights for market swine projects beginning with the 2017 fair. Swine must weigh between 220 lbs. and 320 lbs. to be able to show in market class and sell. Exhibitors are encouraged to figure out the best sized animals to buy for the fair with our July 30 weigh-in target date. The change is to ensure our buyers are provided a good quality product and small or extra heavy swine do not resell well. Campsite Additions The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has granted GCFFY’s request to install 24 new campsites. The site will be located immediately south of the last campsites put in during 2015. The fair will make reservations from the fair’s master wait-ing list if they are able to get the sites installed as planned and many people are working together to see that we are successful. Families on the waiting list who are on the list to get a campsite if this all comes together have been notified. Anyone wanting to put their name on the waiting list should email info@gcffy.org with their name, address, phone number and email and they will be added at the bottom of the fair’s master list. Off Road Vehicles at the Fair Families who want to use an off-road vehicle at the fair need to submit an ORV Applica-tion along with a $25 fee (if received by 7/20 or $30 if received after). Forms are available at http://www.gcffy.org/parts/off_road_vehicle_registration.pdf along with additional in-formation. A proof of liability insurance for the ORV must be attached. Fair Exhibit Tags Each club has a packet of information which includes exhibitor entry tags so they can be passed out during upcoming club meetings. If a project is missing or you forgot to add a project you can print a sheet of blank entry tags (for the Still Exhibit departments) at http://www.gcffy.org/parts/blank_entry_tags.pdf. At this point the fair will not be adding these to the judging lists but the project will be reviewed by our still exhibit judges as any other project is. Can’t Make Still Exhibit Judging? This year the State 4-H Shooting Sports event is held on the same day as our fair begins judging its still exhibit projects. Exhibitors can still participate if they find someone to turn in their project along with a copy of the Still Exhibitor Absentee Form. This form must be filled out for each project entered. The form can be found at http://www.gcffy.org/fair_forms.html.

Still Exhibit Auction Registration

No exhibitor is currently signed up for the Still Ex-hibit Auction. That is because registration will occur at the same time as the judging on Saturday morning, July 29. Exhibi-tors will need to find the area to register their pro-ject and let the person recording the information who they are and what the item is they will be selling.

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We have a newly revised

4-H Market Beef Project

book available at the MSU

Extension office. Come on

in and request a copy.

Michigan 4-H Animal Science Sportsperson of

the Year Award We are excited to remind everyone that in 2017, Michigan 4-H Youth

Development will be awarding a Michigan 4-H Animal Science Sportsperson of the

Year Award. If you know an adult or youth that has exemplified the definition of good

sportsmanship in any of the 4-H animal science project areas, please consider

nominating them by filling out the nomination form by Oct. 1, 2017. Summer is a busy

time with lots of opportunities for youth and adults to show sportsmanship. Let’s

recognize deserving youth and adults in the 4-H Program going above and beyond.

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