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OROFINO — This is the first time in 12 years that Clearwater County has opened the 4-H livestock show to market goats, and Sammi Spencer, 14, of Orofino decided she’d give it a shot.

“This year I decided to do a meat goat because I heard it was the first year they were doing goats again and I wanted to learn more about the process,” Spencer said Thursday as she and her Boar goat, Jelly Bean, did last-minute touch-ups before the quality judging contest commenced.

Spencer said raising a goat was a lot different from the steer she raised last year.

“There’s a lot more that goes into it than I expected,” she said. “It all depends on how much time you put in with them. They are smaller, so they’re easier to handle.”

Thursday was the first day of the four-day event and vendors were setting up their booths and preparing for customers while 4-H club members and the general public started hauling in the pride of their farms and gardens to be scrutinized by busy judges. The tall spires and humongous whirling wheels of the Silver State Amusements carnival rides glittered in the sunlight, promising to transform the usually quiet Orofino City Park into a mecca of excitement.

Katherine Sholar, 14, of Lenore, was brushing down her lamb, Ovis, outside the livestock barn. Although she’s been a 4-H member for eight years and has 11 projects entered in the fair this year, it’s the first time Sholar has entered the livestock contest.

“I did guinea pig the last four years,” Sholar said. “This is my first time of actually having any animals in the barn. Before we had stuffed animal guinea pigs, so it’s a lot different. I didn’t realize that there was a community of 4-Hers before everyone else came to see the animals.”

Erin Rodgers, the 4-H program manager for Clearwater County, said there are about 180 youngsters involved in the program, with about 20 adult volunteer leaders heading up six clubs.

“4-H is one of the oldest and most successful youth programs in the country,” Rodgers said of its enduring popularity in Clearwater County.

“I think families just value how busy it keeps kids,” she said. “And the life skills that they learn — the whole thing about 4-H is learning by doing. So it’s being with your friends and learning a new skill.”

This year the fair board completed a two-year upgrade funded by the county commissioners to replace all the stalls for the sheep, swine and goats. Rodgers said the $15,000 project also enlarged the beef cattle stalls to be more accommodating to today’s larger-sized animals.

“I love the fair every year,” Rodgers said. “I love seeing success for the kids. And I love those kids that may not have made weight (meaning getting their project animals to meet weight specifications) … but they still get out there and show their animals. They still persevere and get their record book in and have fun with their friends and support their fellow members.

“That is what makes it for me.”

Although a wildfire swept through the area just a couple of weeks ago, destroying several buildings on the edge of town, fair officials do not think the fire had a major impact on this year’s exhibit entries.

“We had a good summer and I’m hoping that the vegetables and the flowers will be good,” said Cynthia Hedden, who, along with Margaret Hight, was waiting for the open class exhibitors to arrive.

“There hasn’t been a frost up high, so hopefully none of those flowers or vegetables have gotten bit.”

The cavernous exhibit hall had display areas for “tons of quilts”, Hedden said, artistic arrangements from the area’s elementary and high schools and booths for produce from the Idaho Correctional Institution, where inmates grow vegetables for their own use and to show at the fair.

Hedden said she expected more exhibits to be entered this time around than in the previous couple of years.

“COVID kind of messed things up for the fair,” she said. “The year before last we had just this section of the fair — we didn’t have the carnival, so it was real light that year.

“And last year people didn’t get in the groove after COVID. So the entries were real light. I’m hoping that people are back in the groove now and we’re going to have a lot more activity. This place becomes very alive during the fair. The building is alive and then Sunday afternoon when we put it to bed it’s just asleep again for the rest of the year.”

The 4-H livestock auction begins today with registration for buyers at 5 p.m. and the auction at 6 p.m.

On Saturday the Orofino Volunteer Firemen’s breakfast will be held from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Firehouse, followed at 10 a.m. by the Big Orofino Celebrations Inc. parade and kiddies parade. Fenton and Cindy Freeman are the grand marshals.

The OCI auction starts at the city park at 12:30 p.m. and a horse-pulling contest will begin at the logging arena at 6:30 p.m.

Sunday’s activities include the firemen’s breakfast from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the free logging show gets underway at 10 a.m.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.