Howard County 4-H kick off event slated for Sunday

The Howard County 4-H program is gearing up for its new year with a party Sunday afternoon. The event will be at the G.C. Broughton Jr. Ag Complex at 2411 Echols St.

Ag Extension Agent Tommy Yeater said the program is for kids from third through 12th grade, and that participants must be at least eight years old.

“They have to be in third grade and eight years old to begin 4-H,” Yeater said. “The eight-year-old thing is pretty normal. I haven't heard of any seven year olds being in third grade.”

This year's kick-off event will include the newest take on dodge ball – Gagaball.

“We do have a road show crew coming this year, which is new. It's a group out of Brownwood, the 4-H center in Brownwood sends a group out,” Yeater said. “They're going to set up...gagaball? I never heard of it. It's like dodge ball, but it's got to be waist down. Supposedly it's the kid's new thing that they like.”

Food is included, he added.

“We'll have pizza for the kids and water,” he said. “Basically we're promoting 4-H, and we'll have some leaders, and some kids who are leaders in my program already. They'll have some tables with different projects. Whatever project they're good at. They'll be explaining those to whoever's interested. We just started our new enrollment. We typically run about 85, but they have to re-enroll every year. When their projects come up, that's when they usually sign up. We're probably at about 30 right now, but 85 is a typical year for us.”

Yeater said 4-H gives participants a chance to design, create, and follow through on a project from start to finish. While 4-H typically focuses on agricultural or livestock

oriented projects, some other focus areas are being supported now as well.

“It gives the youth an opportunity to have a project, to broaden their horizons,” he said. “Our food and nutrition project is really taking off. We've always had traditional livestock projects, but now at those traditional livestock shows, they're also including cooking shows, archery, a lot of other contests that 4-H also has projects in, but it gives those kids opportunities for scholarships. big scholarships. Our Foods and Nutrition Group went to district last year, and they did very well. In our archery, we have a young lady who is very good. She won third in Houston last year, and she's 14 now I think. She goes just about every weekend, or every other weekend and she's at a shoot somewhere across the state of Texas representing us.”

Local participants also have the opportunity to represent Howard County in shows around the state of Texas as well as locally.

“The big shows I'm talking about are the State Fair of Texas,

San Antonio, Houston...san Angelo and Austin are usually our smaller shows,” he said. “Locally, we have our County Stock Show, which is in January.”

Yeater said the cost to sign up for 4-H is $25. The program is also seeking adult volunteers, who must submit to a screening process before being accepted into the program.

“The sheriff is one of my volunteers, and they have to screen him every three years. The Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden is a volunteer, and he has to go through the screening,” Yeater said.

For more information contact Tommy Yeater at 432-265-2236.