By RICK A. RICHARDS
Indiana Correspondent

HOBART, Ind. — With only two hours before the Celebration Sale at the Porter County Fair, Dave Sharp was dashing around the show arena making sure everything was just so for the big event. Sharp, a volunteer who is in charge of the sale, has been involved with the annual 4-H livestock auction for 11 years.

“This is the culmination of a full year of work for some of the kids here,” said Sharp. “It’s a great family time.”

Sharp and his wife, Martha, own Sharp School Services, a teacher and education supply business in nearby Hobart, Ind., but come fair time, Sharp puts that aside and gets involved in the livestock show, making sure everything runs smoothly.

On Thursday, July 29, a hot and muggy day, Sharp directed a platoon of 4-Hers and other volunteers on where to set up chairs, where to nail placards honoring last year’s buyers, made sure there was fresh sawdust in front of the auctioneer’s platform and that the bleachers – every square inch of them – were washed and dried before visitors arrived.

“This doesn’t work unless everyone is involved,” Sharp said.

And within a short time, the show arena was transformed into an auction floor, where by the end of the night, 13 individual sales records were set, and 490 animals were sold for a record total of $304,860.83.

The individual records included champion roasters, reserve champion white turkey, grand champion rabbit carcass, grand champion meat pen, reserve grand champion meat pen, grand champion brown Swiss milk, grand champion Jersey milk, reserve grand champion Jersey milk, reserve grand champion Holstein milk, grand champion steer, grand champion dairy wether, reserve grand champion meat weather and grand champion Royale lamb.

The top sellers were the grand champion beef of Kendal Schoon of Kouts, $8,320; the grand champion dairy cow of Ricky Alatorre of Hebron, $5,100; the grand champion goat of Austin Gearhart of Hebron, $1,202.18; the grand champion rabbit of Nicholas Boznak of Valparaiso, $725; the grand champion sheep of Jessica Johnson of Valparaiso, $2,620; and an individual pig shown by Kiersten Duzan, $1,246.50.

At the same time Sharp was getting the show arena ready, MiKayla
Duzan, a seventh grader at Morgan Township School, was getting her three sheep ready for the sale.

Duzan showed the champion Oxford and the reserve champion pen of two. The champion Oxford netted her $600, the reserve champion pen brought in $354 and a single lot lamb sold for $181.13 – a total for the evening of $1,135.13.

But Duzan said she doesn’t show livestock just for the check. “I like 4-H because it teaches you responsibility. I like having the animals and going to the fair.”

MiKayla said she practices showing her sheep year-round, making little show arenas in her yard. “4-H teaches you how to finish the things you start.”

Besides 4-H, MiKayla is also active in band, softball, basketball and volleyball at Morgan Township.

Her father, Kevin Duzan, is one of the many volunteers Sharp depends on to get things done at the Celebration Sale. Taking a break from preparing the sales arena, he stopped by the Sheep Barn to check on his daughter.

“I really like the 4-H program. It teaches the kids a work ethic and camaraderie with other 4-Hers. It’s really a family-oriented program,” said Duzan.

David Jones, a 17-year-old sophomore at Chesterton High School, showed his champion dairy cows, but he had no intention of selling them.

“It’s really fun to be a part of the fair,” said Jones. “I’ve learned from 4-H that life can be hard, but you deal with it and take responsibility. I learned that you don’t give up.”

That responsibility included arriving at the fair at 4 a.m. each day to tend to the 14 dairy cows he and his brother, Paul, were showing.

That sentiment makes his mother and father smile, Rachael Jones mentioned – after David stepped away to tend to his cows - that her son is legally blind. She said he’s completely blind in one eye and has only a pinpoint of sight in the other.

From watching David maneuver in the show arena and in the dairy barn, no one could possibly know.

“I like coming to the fair because I get to spend time with all my animals and friends,” said David, who someday hopes to attend Purdue University.

His father, Craig, has operated an automotive machine shop in Chesterton for 28 years, said he’s a big believer in 4-H. “It provides the kids with a good learning experience,” he said.

Zoe Yergler spent part of the afternoon wiping bleachers in the show arena before getting her four champion pigs ready for the sale. By the time the evening was done, Yergler’s four pigs sold for a grand total of $2,494, including $906 for the reserve grand champion and $748 for her champion Yorkshire.

Yergler, a seventh grader at Kouts Middle School, said she likes 4-H because of the friends she meets and because “it teaches so many life lessons.”

She said she intends to stay in 4-H through high school because of the scholarship opportunities it offers. “And 4-H membership looks good on a job application,” she said.

As the sale rolled around, Porter County Fair Superintendent Lonnie Steele smiled with satisfaction. He’s been involved with the fair for 23 years, the past 13 as superintendent, but this year is his last.

“It’s time for someone else to step in,” Steele said, who is one of the biggest boosters of the fair.

Steele was optimistic that last year’s attendance of 154,000 would be surpassed, especially when 24,000 people walked through the turnstiles on Sunday, July 25.

“The weather has been great and attendance has been strong, very strong,” said Steele. “My hope is to be able to achieve record attendance.”

But even with the massive midway and all of the commercial exhibits and food booths, Steele said the heart and soul of the fair is 4-H. “This fair is built around 4-H and youth,” said Steele, a retired educator.