Lee County
State ESP County Performance Award

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Staff Cooperation:
A major project the Lee County staff collaborated on was the Lee County Agricultural Fair. Our efforts are combined to show case and promote Agriculture through the various exhibits and activities conducted at the Fair. We strongly feel our participation keeps the Fair an agriculture showcase and prevents it from becoming a carnival. The Fair also allowed us to involve youth in numerous fair activities. These events provided them with the opportunity to educate others about life skills they have learned through organizational work and demonstrated their leadership skills. The Fair also allowed us to utilize the skills of volunteers. Working together and employing community resources we were able to achieve a common goal by exposing over 15-20,000 Lee County residents to a true Agriculture Fair. Members of our staff are responsible for the following events: fair catalog, truck and tractor driving, educational booths and exhibits, youth broiler competition, steer and poultry auction, livestock show, horse and dog shows, Goodness Grows, diaper derby and the Fair advisory committee.

Staff member support each other by:
Being present and assisting one another during these events.
Collaborating on designing and building educational booths.
Updating, editing and proofing the Fair Catalog which is distributed in the Sanford Herald.
Publicizing one another's events via meetings, articles, and television spots.
Enlisting the support of and working with volunteers to manage these events.
Collaborating with sponsors of the fair to plan, execute and evaluate the fair.

Resource Utilization:
As we plan and conduct these various events we utilize many resources from the local community and the University. Specialist were utilized as judges for exhibits and livestock events and supplied Agents with educational materials for educational booths. Master Gardener Volunteers developed and maintained an outdoor landscape exhibit each day of the fair. Vocational teachers, 4-H leaders and their youth groups volunteered to host several events. This included promoting, recruiting participants, organizing and conducting the events and awarding premiums. The Lee Co. Area Farmers organization constructed an educational booth on farm safety. The Lee County Livestock Association sponsored the livestock show, youth broiler competition and the steer and poultry auction. On the day exhibits were judged, Extension and Community Association members assisted with recording winning premiums and placing ribbons on exhibits once the judges' decision was final. 4-H and Vocational youth groups maintained the Goodness Grows Booth and assisted younger children in completing the scavenger hunt for agricultural terms. The secretarial staff designed flyers promoting all the Extension related events. At no cost to us, these flyers were used in the fair catalog and by the newspaper prior to and during the week of the fair. We were also able to submit an “Extension ad” in the fair tabloid at no cost.

Program Impact:
Educational Booths: “Extension through Volunteers”, “Farm Safety” and “Germs Come, Germs Go”
Raised awareness of Extension programs and activities.
Demonstrations provided quick and easy to understand educational messages on topics such as: germs, farm awareness, pesticide and equipment safety, ATV safety, West Nile, trailer safety and maintenance, Eastern Equine Encephalitis, plant problems, and varieties of turf, perennials and herbs.

Livestock Show
Self actualization and character development for youth and adults. Builds confidence and pride.
County residents learned about livestock production and the need for quality beef in the marketplace.
Livestock producers received over $3,500 in premiums.

Youth Broiler Show
Self actualization and character development for youth. Builds confidence.
Students were inspired to learn “how to raise better broilers for next year's competition”.
Community recognized the poultry industry and its impact on our community.
Over $1,300 in premiums went to 77 students who raised boilers.

Steer Auction and Poultry Auction
Positive reinforcement for hard work of youth. Created an incentive to continue to strive to do better next year.
Over $3,800 was awarded in the youth steer auction winner.
The poultry students received over$410 from the sale of the Grand and Reserve champions birds which were purchased by Gold Kist.

4-H Horse and Dog Show
4-H clubs planned and implemented two horse shows and one dog show.
4-H'ers learned organizational and leadership skills.

Truck and Tractor Driving Competition
Encouraged safe operation of farm equipment and vehicles.
Over $300 in premiums were awarded to 16 youth and adult participants.

Goodness Grows Booth
Taught youth volunteers communication skills and responsibility. Informed youth about NC agriculture. Awarded youth prizes for their participation in the scavenger hunt.