◆ 4H in Lincoln County moving forward despite pandemic
By Shaily Harshbarger
Lincoln County 4-H Educator
We are definitely starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel in the 4-H world! We are allowed to have face-to-face meetings now, we just have parameters that we have to follow to keep everyone safe.
A couple of rules that we have to follow are:
• 25 or less people at each meeting and we all have to stay six feet apart.
• We have steps the kids/volunteers have to follow at each meeting (wash hands, wash surfaces, ect.)
• If we want to do something with more than 25 people then we have to submit a variance or we have to host a zoom meeting and have a virtual meetings.
• A lot of guidelines depend on the County Health Officials and the Governor and what they say each county can do.
Showcase Showdown will happen this year. It will just be virtual this year. Those dates are June 15, June 16, and June 17. The deadline to register is June 5. The website to register is: bit.ly/showcaseshowdown2020.
The contests that will be going on are: Produce Judging, Livestock-Skillathon, Prepared Public Speaking, Impromptu, Dog-Skillathon, Table Setting, and Hippology.
Shar and I are still having Showcase Showdown meetings each week via zoom for the events that will be there.
We also share things weekly on our 4-H Facebook page, (UW Lincoln County 4-H) which you can follow to see upcoming events. We are going to start meeting with our project leaders face-to-face to start discussing how we are going to implement and run our meetings with the new rules. Club meetings at this time probably will not happen just because there is more than twenty-five members that attend those.
Remember that all small livestock has to be tagged by June 1. Make sure you have signed up on 4-Honline, turned in your bill of sale/ brand inspection to Shar or I, tagged your animals, and uploaded your pictures of your animals on 4-Honline. If you have questions or need help please contact Shar or I.
I’m really impressed with how 4-H as a whole has came together and really helped each other in these times. All of us Extension Educators across the state have kept in contact, brainstorm plans, shared each other lessons, and really have worked together and supported each other and I just think that’s really neat.
Right now communication is key and making sure we get information out to all our 4-H families and leaders about all the new guidelines and the do’s and don’ts we are allowed to do at 4-H meetings.
