The animals are always the main attraction at 4-H on Parade. Horse, cows and sheep are put on display, judged and even sold over the course of the three day event, which was held May 27-29 at the Calgary Stampede grounds. It also gives the participants a chance to get a little creative, as decorated horse stalls are also one of the judged competitions.
The Big Hill West Light Horse 4-H Club horse stalls featured a ski chalet theme, complete with a fake, decorated Christmas tree, fake snow and a ski run map. The ski theme came from seven-year-old Jade Whitmarsh, a future 4-H member. The idea came to her when she went skiing with her older sister and was brought to a vote at a club meeting. It took the club a few weeks to prepare the decorations and four to five hours to decorate the stalls.
“It was fun to decorate the stalls, see the kids put together all the work and show it off. They put a lot of work into it,” Whitmarsh said.
Whitmarsh’s horse, Ginger, a seven-year-old American Quarter Horse, wasn’t participating in any of the competitions, but the stalls housed the horses of Dawn Lindwall, Kate Keresztesi and Tinniea Mark. Mark and Keresztesi are in their first year with 4-H, but 17-year-old Lindwall is in her second year with the club, and she says riding her horse, Peewee, is her favourite part.
“You have to trust someone else and you bond. (Riding’s) an adrenaline rush and you get to do many things,” she said.
Mark says that 4-H has been a learning experience for her.
“I’ve learned how to be in front of a crowd,” she said. “You have to remember it’s only you, your house and the judge.”
All three girls agree that 4-H has been an excellent opportunity for getting involved in their community meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones. And it’s a network of friends that has won the Big Hill West 4-H Club the Urban Mortgage $25,000 “You Deserve It” contest.
The club applied for the contest in the hope of funding their “Adopt a Member” program, which allows kids from low-income families to participate in 4-H. The club filmed, edited and submitted a two minute video that described how they would use the $25,000 prize. All of the video entries were posted on Urban Mortgage’s Facebook page and people voted for the most deserving video by clicking ‘Like.’ The top three entries were announced May 20, and the Big Hill West club was announced as the winner May 31 on Breakfast Television.
“We were working it until the very last minute getting those votes,” said Emily McBride, one of the club members who were on hand for the winning announcement.
Project leader Kim McKylor said that while the club was confident in their submission, the win was surprising. She also said that the process taught her a lot about social media marketing and the power of the networks that organizations like 4-H create.
“The kids did an awesome job with the video showing what the program was about. We knew we had the components to be successful, but we still needed people to come and validate it with votes. We had one month to get votes, and it was about utilitzing our networks in 4-H,” she said.
Assistant club leader, Marie Whitmarsh, echoed McKylor’s sentiments.
“The club is very excited and thrilled that our hard work paid off. It wasn’t an easy contest to win,” she said. “I don’t think it’s sunk in.”
