Pet projects

Members of one 4-H family have their hands in almost every corner of the fair

Can you imagine a camping vacation highlighted by cleaning pens, scrubbing pigs, ironing shirts and chasing chickens?

Skyler and Tara Norick and their children can. They've spent every August for 12 years doing exactly that at the Northwest Montana Fair.

"It's a big camping trip," Tara Norick said. "We look forward to it."

This year, they parked their trailer in spot number three in the camping area by Wyoming Street. For $50 for the week, the family saves time and gas, enjoys camaraderie and feels a little pampered.

"It's the only week we have air conditioning," Tara Norick said with a laugh.

The organizational leader of Grandview Supreme 4-H Club, Norick serves as the calm eye in the tornado of activities for her 30 club members, including her own children Cassidy, 7, Colin, 9 and Colter, 11.

The Noricks' eldest child, Brandon, now a student at Montana State University-Bozeman, also spent his youth as a Grandview Supreme member.

"We're the oldest club in the state," Tara said with a note of pride. "We've got 175 projects in the general projects area."

Mission Northwest Montana Fair begins days before official opening day on Wednesday for the legions of youth involved in FFA and 4-H.

On the Saturday before fair week, Norick and her family backed in their trailer and set up an outside shelter as ground zero for the 4-H expeditionary force, which includes about five other Grandview Supreme families.

"We all try to stay together," she said. "The kids play and cheer each other on. It's always more fun when you work together."

Their 30 club members range in age from 5 to 18. Youngsters 5 to 8 participate as Clover Buds. They blossom into competitors if they are 8 years old by Oct. 1, the beginning of the 4-H year.

Norick considers 4-H the ultimate family program because it offers something for children of all ages as well as adults. She said the teenagers serve as role models and mentors for the youngsters while parents volunteer to lead projects.

"It's so good for the kids," she said. "They learn so many life skills."

Norick delighted in displaying a thick wad of pink entry slips as evidence of her family's year extraordinaire of learning, including building, cooking and raising and training animals to enter and show at the fair.

Their animal competitors included rabbits, geese and hogs, while their other entries formed a mountain of photographs, plants, vegetables, cookies, candy, jams and more.

Norick, a real estate agent, and her husband, a contractor, keep these 4-H activities on track while pursuing their careers and managing their more than 40 rental properties. She also serves as a speech and debate coach at Columbia Falls High School.

But during fair week, 4-H reigns supreme.

"We take off time," Norick said. "These kids have worked all year and this is where they compete and get recognition for their work."

She added that their members don't always win but they take pride in doing their best. Norick said they understand that every judge has his or her own opinion.

"That's what 4-H teaches," she said.

Children learn to cope with adversity, which was no stranger to this family during this fair.

Their first setback happened when a dog or fox invaded the Noricks' chicken coop while they were camped at the fair. When they went home to pick up their chicken entries, they found 11 dead, including Colter's and Colin's showmanship chickens.

All three children were sad but they packed up their three geese and returned to the fair. Although geese famously nip noses and overpower their young handlers, Colter was determined to show his goose.

His mom admits she had reservations.

"He was brave," she said with a laugh. "But he did great - he got a blue ribbon. The goose was well-behaved."

The club and the three Norick children also had a fantastic showing in the rabbit barn. Colter got four "Best of Breed" ribbons, Colin won "Best Opposite Sex" and a blue and Cassidy took home blue and red ribbons.

Another blow struck when, at hog weigh-in, Colter's pig tipped the scales too heavy to qualify for the market sale. But he had a happy ending when the owner of Countryside Welding purchased his pig.

"He gave us a great price - $2.75 a pound, about $800," Norick said.

In this 4-H family, the money from selling market animals goes into a savings account for the future. By the time Brandon went to college, he had $10,000 for tuition from selling his market animals through 4-H.

"The ribbon money they get to spend," Norick said. "Both boys have big plans - Colin wants to buy legos and Colter wants an iPod."

Both fared well on their project entries as well as in the hog showmanship ring, where both boys won blue ribbons. Although the results were pending, Norick thought the club achieved its goal of taking the most blue ribbons of any club.

All three children were having a great time horsing about with their friends in spite of the demands of cleaning pens bright and early each morning.

"This teaches them so much independence - it's their responsibility," Norick said. "If they don't do it, the barn superintendent gets after them."

She was so impressed with little Cassidy, who managed to be dressed and comb her hair before heading off to clean her rabbit pen even before her older brothers were out of bed on some mornings.

By Thursday, the pace of competition and barn decorating had slowed enough for the youngsters to enjoy the midway rides and other fair attractions. Friday brought preparations for the market buyers' 7:30 a.m. Saturday breakfast.

"We have to crack 60 dozen eggs," Norick said.

The Grandview Supreme 4-H Club members prepare the breakfast - ham, eggs, biscuits, sausage gravy and fruit - then make all the signs displayed on pens to thank buyers who support the crucial 4-H market livestock sale.

Today marks demobilization day when the multiple loads hauled to the fair must all go home. The Noricks mark the conclusion of another Northwest Montana Fair week of highs, a few blows and a whole lot of learning.

She said the youngsters can't wait to get started on next year with big plans for more chickens, a sturdier pen, a foray into goats and perhaps pony showing for Cassidy. Market animals remain in question.

"They go back and forth between hogs and lambs," Norick said.

She said that 2008 was a great fair. Even with the low moments, the Norick children had a wonderful time, making lots of memories to take with them back to Deer Park School.

"They all worked so hard," Norick said. "I'm just so proud of them."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.