By EMMA HOPKINS-O’BRIEN

Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Earlier in July, more than 650 children, teens and young adults participated in the largest junior sheep exhibition in the country – the All-American Junior Sheep Show, staged this year in Indianapolis for its 25th anniversary.

The last time the All-American took place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds was 2003. But this anniversary of the show was cause for celebration, said Carrie Kelly, who came to Indy from Iowa to be on the Junior Show planning committee.

“Because it was the 25th anniversary, we did the opening ceremony kind of like they do the Olympics – where we had the signs and the kids walked in by state,” she said.

Because of Indiana’s central location, a record 652 young sheep exhibitors were able to attend. A record-breaking 2,496 sheep were shown in the course of three days, along with 266 sheep fleeces and 374 promotional items in categorical competitions such as photo and essay competitions.

Many young people such as Wyatt Bultemeier, 11, from Hoagland, Ind., participated in the show for the first time this year.

“I had a lot of fun, and there were more sheep here than at some other shows I’ve been to,” he said. “A lot more in my breed. We came here and there’s a lot of sheep in the ring with you, and I really like having the competition.”

Becky Peterson of Massachusetts, also on the planning committee, said many children come back to the All-American year after year.

“It’s a national-caliber show, and it’s their chance to excel and participate,” she said. “They can say they’ve been there and competed. It’s an honor, really, for them to come here.”

A new activity this year was a virtual reality sheep shearing game kids could use to try their hands at cutting safely. Kelly and Peterson said it was well-received, and Bultemeier agreed.

“The virtual shearing was awesome,” he explained. “You put on a headset, and a sheep is right there in front of you on the stand, and you have this virtual reality shearing experience. You have 60 seconds to shear this entire animal and you were trying to get everything off. It was so cool.”

In addition to the sheep-related fun at the show, participants enjoy seeing the friends they make year after year. Alyse Millikan, a veteran showman from Noblesville, Ind., has kept friends she made back in 201l – the first year she experienced the show.

“There’s a lot of people that you don’t get to see very often in the show circuit, and it’s just a good way to reconnect with those people,” she said. “There’s a lot of emphasis on the kids at this show. It feels kind of like a 4-H fair, but it’s all about the sheep, and that’s really nice.

“It’s one of the bigger shows in the United States, but it feels very much like a small community because it’s all about the kids, and there’s a lot of outside activities to do.”

At the end of the day, it all comes back to the sheep. Millikan, 20, who will be a junior at Indiana University in the fall, said her favorite memories of the show are in the arena.

“On show day I would always have two breeds, and my friends would have their breeds, and so there would be a solid three hours where we were just in and out and back in the show, because we all helped show each other’s sheep,” she said. “It was crazy, but it was so fun.”

Millikan’s last eligible year for the All-American will be next year, but Bultemeier’s sheep-showing career has just begun. Like junior showmen before him, he enjoys the competitive days with his sheep, as well as the less hectic ones at home.

“Halter-breaking can be annoying, but it’s nice when we’re walking sheep at night,” he noted. “Even if I have the most stressful day, when I come back and start walking the sheep, it’s pretty relaxing. Taking care of the sheep is also a lot of fun.”