Alaska State Fair is a boon for enterprising 4-H'ers

For Megan Kenley and Jed Fry, the Alaska State Fair is providing valuable lessons and a few extra bucks.

Kenley, 16, and Fry, 14, are part of the Winner's Circle 4-H Club that is running the GCI Petting Zoo, as well as feeding and watering the livestock at this year's Alaska State Fair. The 4-H Club contracts with GCI, and for the students, that means having a little extra cash in their pockets.

"All of the change that people pay for the petting zoo food goes to help our club, but we're working for money," Fry, a Palmer High School student, said. "It all depends on how much you want to make as to how much you work."

This is the second year Kenley has worked in the livestock pavilion at the Alaska State Fair. She said she's volunteered in the past as well.

"We clean their pens, give them hay, feed them, give them water, those kinds of things," Kenley, a Colony High School student, said. "We usually work from 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock every day."

If it weren't for farming and gardening, there may never have been an Alaska State Fair. It is rooted in the deep agricultural history of the Valley, and in a sense, it is students like Kenley and Fry who are continuing that tradition.

"The fair is very large for 4-H'ers," Fry said. "We can show what we can do with the animals. We can learn how to raise and show animals by working here."

Kenley said that's one reason why she decided to work at the fair in the first place.

"You get to know a lot of people who raise the animals, and how to work with them better," Kenley said. "You learn while you work."

While fairgoers may not notice the work of Kenley, Fry and their fellow 4-H students, without their work, the livestock area would certainly look a lot different. They are in charge of keeping the animals as happy as possible, and as clean as possible.

At the livestock pavilion, fairgoers can visit the latest additions to the Alaska State Fair. Two litters of piglets have been born during the fair and on Saturday, a litter of multicolored piglets was born in the pavilion, in front of a crowd of onlookers. Then, on Monday, another litter -- this time numbering 15 piglets -- was born. They all were pink, and fairgoers cheered when two of the piglets that were caught under their mother wiggled free and started feeding.

All of the pigs may be seen in the Farm Exhibits area from noon to 8 p.m. daily.

Contact Casey Ressler at valleylife@frontiersman.com.