Posted on: Thursday, July 1, 2004
4-H fair to focus more on animals
By Carrie Ching
Advertiser Staff Writer
KUALOA RANCH — In a small pen lined with hay and smelling of farm animals, Kylie Hashizaki of Ha'iku, Maui, fed her pig Bam Bam from a water bottle, then sat down on his wide pink back and gave him a slap.
Photos by Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser It's all business to Kylie, who showed two pigs, Fred and Barney, in the Maui County 4-H Farm Fair last month and came out grand champion in the Swine Junior category.
"Pigs you don't really get as attached to," Kylie said matter-of-factly, as Bam Bam gobbled down pig feed from a bowl. "Sometimes pigs can be so obnoxious."
This year is the first statewide farm fair put on solely by 4-H, an organization that teaches youth ages 5 through 19 leadership skills and personal economics through hands-on projects. This year, the partnership between 4-H and the Hawai'i Farm Bureau — which co-organized the Hawai'i State Farm Fair for 30 years — ended and 4-H decided to go it alone.
Although 4-H organizers regretted the split from the State Farm Fair, there was optimism in the air yesterday as volunteers set up under the tent at Kualoa Ranch.
"It's a pretty place to have a nice country fair," said 4-Her Jill Eguires, 19, of Pupukea, as she gestured toward the Ko'olau cliffs behind her. "It sets the tone — it's nice for the animals and makes them more calm to be on grass rather than cement (of Aloha Stadium)."
Eguires, a veteran 4-H'er who has been competing and volunteering at farm fairs since she was 8, will show her dairy heifer, Kila.
Dr. Brent Buckley, an animal science professor at the University of Hawai'i who helps with the livestock competitions, said, "I want people in the city to know what ag is about and understand where their food comes from. That's part of what this fair is all about."
• Kualoa Ranch • Today, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; tomorrow and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. • Free admission, parking. • Livestock shows and showmanship events today and tomorrow. Livestock auction Saturday at 1 p.m. • Information: 453-6050. "This year the fair will be a lot more focused on the animals," Eguires said. "Hopefully this way more people will come and be interested in the animals.
"I feel like the country is slowly dying," she said. "Down here everyone is more focused on tourism and business than farming. I guess it comes down to money."
"One of the challenges as we get more and more urbanized is that there are fewer and fewer places where kids can go," Buckley said.
Some city kids seem to have bridged the gap successfully. Nicole Kinoshita, 9, of Makakilo, fed her sister's lamb, Sunshine, while her Gameboy lay in the hay beside her. One pen over, 10-year-old Czarina Antolin of Pearl City, petted her lamb, Hila, while waiting to have him weighed.
Reach Carrie Ching at 525-8054 or cching@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.
For the past few months, 10-year-old Kylie has been feeding, washing and walking her pig to get him ready for the Hawai'i 4-H Farm Fair at Kualoa Ranch. At the fair, which runs today through Sunday, Kylie and about 60 other kids will parade their animals around the ring in hopes of snagging a livestock prize — and possibly a buyer. After that, it's most likely bacon for Bam Bam.
Samantha Souza, 15, of Wai'anae, walks her steer on the Hawai'i 4-H Farm Fair grounds at Kualoa Ranch in Windward O'ahu. The statewide event is scheduled for today through Sunday, with free admission and parking.
Shelby Rita, 12, of Sunset Beach, takes a break from attending to her 8-month-old lamb Silverado. The Hawai'i 4-H Farm Fair begins today.
Samantha Souza cools down her Angus Hereford Limousine steer at the fair.
This year's 4-H Farm Fair will have games, bouncers, food and craft booths and live slack key guitar by George Kahumoku Jr., but no carnival rides. Fair-goers will have a chance to visit and pet many of the cows, lambs, pigs, goats and chickens in their pens.
Hawai'i 4-H Farm Fair
