The 97 youth who participated in this year’s 4-H Junior Market Livestock Auction at the Alaska State Fair were richly rewarded for all their hard work. There were more than 180 registered attendees at the auction, which raised a total of $210,681!

A total of 146 different businesses and individuals gave anywhere from $20 to $17,000 during the auction, by either purchasing an animal or making an “add on” donation to a specific student after the high bid was announced or at the end of the auction.

Young beef was the most popular with auction-goers, bringing in $8,220, followed by beef at $7,581 and swine at $3,300. Also featured at the auction were lamb, goat, turkey, chickens and pheasants.

The youth, many of whom raised their animals from birth, receive the majority of the proceeds, which they often pour back into raising an animal for the next year’s auction. 4-H receives a small portion of the funds to support the program.

This year marked the 40th anniversary of the 4-H Junior Market Livestock Auction, which took place September 5 in Farm Exhibits on the fairgrounds. In addition to the auction itself, there was a preview of animals, live music by the Colony High School Jazz Band, and raffle drawings.

Read more about this year’s auction and some of this year’s youth participants on the Fair blog!

Fourth-generation Alaskan and artist Ruth Hulbert designed the 2016 Fair commemorative poster artwork, unofficially titled “The Work of Many Hands.” The poster’s quilt pattern includes eight squares, representing significant moments in each decade of the Fair, plus one square representing the Fair as an ongoing work in progress. Hulbert carefully researched the Fair’s history as part of this project, and her notes on each square are shared below.

Hulbert’s artwork is also featured on a quilt commemorating the Fair’s 80th birthday. The queen-size quilt, quilted by local quilter Kathy Rockey, is being raffled off to raise money for the Fair’s scholarship fund. The quilt will be on display at the daily quilt show in Irwin Exhibits during the Fair. Raffle tickets – $10 for one or three for $25 – will be available at the Main Office or at the Plaza and Irwin souvenir booths during the Fair.

Click/tap on each square for information on the decade it represents

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About the Artist

Ruth Hulbert was born and raised in Palmer. She graduated from Palmer High School in 2004, and studied art and dipnetting with WB (Brad) Hughes of Homer (who painted several popular posters for the Alaska State Fair). She graduated from Western Washington University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and painting, and got a certificate in natural science illustration from the University of Washington in 2013. She’s worked at Fireside Books, worked as signmaker for the Fair from 2005 to 2011, and painted the Fair poster in 2007, 2009 and 2015. Presently she lives in Bellingham, Washington, where she works in an art gallery as a picture framer.

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From attendance and concert ticket sales to exhibit entries and recycling, the Alaska State Fair continued its upward trend this year. The 2015 Fair was held August 27 – September 7 at the fairgrounds in Palmer.

Most notable was estimated attendance, which increased to 299,698 this year, compared to 293,827 last year and 288,499 in 2013. Advance admission sales, including tickets purchased online and at Costco and Three Bears, were up significantly this year, with 65,294 tickets purchased in advance in 2015, compared to 56,417 last year and 46,464 in 2013. Following the historic norm, Saturday was the most popular day to visit the Fair, with attendance of 45,059 on the first Saturday and 41,899 the second.

Concert ticket sales were also up, with 31,986 tickets sold in 2015, compared to 28,262 tickets last year. Concertgoers were most excited to see Lee Brice and Jason Derulo, with 5,188 and 5,155 tickets sold respectively.

“We thank everyone who played a role in making the Fair happen, and we thank our loyal customers for coming out to enjoy it. It’s because of you that we had another successful year,” said Jerome Hertel, Fair general manager.

Other areas of growth at the 2015 Fair include:

• Exhibit entries. The 9,054 entries were up from 8,253 last year, and marked the highest number of entries in the past 10 years. Flowers and crops were the two most popular categories, with 2,009 and 1,434 entries respectively.
• Recycling numbers. Volunteers collected 34,953 pounds, or 17.5 tons, of recyclable material, including plastics, cardboard, mixed/office and newspaper, aluminum, steel cans and glass. This was up from the 31,121 pounds collected last year.
• 4-H Junior Market Livestock Auction. A total of 97 youth participated in this year’s event, which raised $210,681. This was an increase from 77 youth and $155,666 last year.
• Golden Wheel Amusements had 32 rides at the Fair this year, including two new attractions: the Rave, a spinning thrill ride, and the Clown Around, a new ride for the little ones. There were 11 midway games and seven food wagons, with the Black Diamond Coffee Company as the newest addition.

Additional highlights from the 2015 Fair include:

• There were 488 vendors at the Fair, including 68 food vendors.
• Steve Hubacek took first place in the 20th annual Giant Cabbage Weigh-Off with his 92.10-pound entry. Brian Shunskis claimed second place with a 83.85-pounder, and third place went to Keevan Dinkel and his 75.20-pound cabbage.
• Two new state records were set, including a 4.50-pound tomato grown by Patrick White of Soldotna, and a 24-inch sunflower head entered by Melanie San Angelo of Anchorage.
• Fairgoers showed their generosity to neighbors in need, donating 13,500 pounds of food and $1,200 in cash during the Fair food drive benefiting Mat-Su Food Bank. The Fair also donated 665 pounds of fresh vegetables to the Food Bank.
• A total of 2,427 students in grades kindergarten to fifth grade participated in Fair educational programs, in a continued demonstration of the Fair’s commitment to entertainment and education.
• The Gathering Place: Celebrating Alaska Native Heritage marked its second year at the Fair. All regions of Alaska were represented at The Gathering Place, which featured 38 Alaska Native dance group performances, 23 Alaska Native artisans, 13 storytelling concerts, 10 Alaska Native games demonstrations, and nine music concerts.

It will be a year of celebration at the fairgrounds in 2016, with the Alaska State Fair celebrating its 80th birthday and Golden Wheel Amusements marking 50 years of entertaining Alaskans. The 2016 Fair is scheduled for August 25 – September 5.

MTA is replacing the current WiFi infrastructure at the Alaska State Fair with a more advanced commercial enterprise-grade system that will extend the reach, increase the capacity and improve the reliability of WiFi throughout the fairgrounds.

“The upgrades are being made to provide fairgoers and vendors with the latest and greatest in WiFi technology, and to support the growth of WiFi use over the next five years,” said Carolyn Hanson, MTA director of marketing and sales.

The new system will provide better WiFi signal strength, faster connections, Enterprise Class Security, and automatic load balancing during peak times. These improvements are intended to provide a better experience for fairgoers and vendors.

“MTA has been a long-standing partner of the Alaska State Fair,” said Jerome Hertel, Fair general manager. “We are grateful for their ongoing support, including their recent major contribution to upgrade the WiFi network at the Fair. WiFi access has continued to grow more and more important to Fair vendors and fairgoers, and we are pleased to be able to offer WiFi at no cost, thanks to the support of MTA.”

In addition to providing state-of-the-art broadband services at the Fair for more than five years, MTA is one of the Fair’s top sponsors, supporting a variety of events and venues such as MTA Kids Day, the MTA Texting Contest, and the MTA Borealis Tent. This year MTA is also sponsoring the Home Free concert and the fireworks.

A lot of kids are excited to head for the Alaska State Fair this weekend, but probably none so much as the youth participating in the 4-H Junior Market Livestock Auction. The 97 students participating in this year’s auction have spent much of the past year raising an animal for the auction, which takes place this coming Saturday, September 5 in Farm Exhibits at the fairgrounds.

“I am very excited about this fair! I can’t wait until the auction,” says Destiny Reimers, a third-year member of the Idea Champions 4-H Club, who has raised a turkey for this year’s auction.

The auction is open to everyone, whether they want to buy an animal or just show their support for the hard-working group of youth, who range in age from 9 to 18.

“If there are people and businesses in the community that enjoy seeing and promoting youth involvement in business and agriculture, this is one event they will not want to miss,” says Trisha Beames, the corresponding secretary for the Mat-Su Copper River District 4H VLA.

Many of the 4-H youth, including Ryan Eklund, have raised their animals from birth. “I am very proud of and love my goat. I am thankful that I was able to assist in his birth, and I’ve cared for him every day since,” says 10-year-old Ryan.

“These youth have worked especially hard to raise and provide quality market animals,” says Trisha. “They have had to keep extensive record books, attend educational clinics throughout the year and have had to adhere to strict project monitoring guidelines. It is wonderful to see young people today learning life skills of hard work, patience, perseverance and responsibility.”

A small portion of the auction proceeds go back to 4-H to support the program, and the remainder goes directly to the youth participants, who pour their time, energy and resources into raising animals for the event. Esther Lytle, a four-year member of the Colony Clovers 4-H Club, plans to use her auction money to grow her goat herd – and her college fund – while 14-year-old Harley Lytle will put his money toward his future college degree in wildlife biology.

“Many young people have used the 4-H experience as a stepping stone into a lifetime of work with animals by becoming farmers, ranchers, trainers, veterinarians, animal scientists, educators, professional herdsmen and other related careers,” says Kelee Eklund, president of the livestock committee. “Even those not pursuing agricultural-related careers learn about responsibility, work ethic, financial management, and health and nutrition.”

Want to buy an animal? Bidders can check in and preview the animals starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The auction begins at noon.

Can’t make it to the auction in person? You can obtain a sealed bid form that allows you to make a specific dollar amount bid on an animal in advance, and a proxy bid will be made on your behalf at the auction.

But even if you don’t want to bid, there are plenty of reasons to attend the auction, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year:

• Preview of auction animals from 10 a.m. – noon.
• Live music by the Colony High School Jazz Band, from 10 – noon. The band will also start the auction by performing the National Anthem.
• Raffle drawings throughout the auction. Winners will receive goodie bags filled with handmade, Alaska Grown gifts from 4-H students.

Not planning to bid? There are several other ways to support the program:

• Make an “add on” donation to a specific student after the high bid is announced or at the end of the auction.
• Make a donation to the Charitable Buyers Club, a group that makes sure all animals at the auction are sold for a reasonable and fair market value. The meat is then donated to the local food bank.

At last count, this year’s auction is expected to feature:

• 18 beef
• 35 swine
• 43 turkeys
• 28 lambs
• 8 goats
• 3 geese
• 18 pens of chickens (pen of three)
• 5 pens of ducks
• 7 pens of rabbits
• 3 pens of game birds

The animals can be seen in the auction preview, which will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, or at one of this week’s 4-H livestock shows (see the Fair daily schedule for details):

• Wednesday, September 2: Market Class Shows, 3 – 8 p.m.
• Thursday, September 3: Breeding Class Shows, 1 – 4 p.m.
• Friday, September 4: Showmanship Shows, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

“Without the communities’ support, the 4-H Junior Market Livestock Auction could not happen,” Destiny says. “Thank you so much!”