Members of the Garden Spot FFA participated in the West Lampeter Fair, held from Sept. 25 to 27. At this year's event, 14 Garden Spot FFA members exhibited projects, including market swine, market goats, market lambs, market steers and dairy beef.
Jessica Herr entered hay and recieved Best of Show. During the market swine show on Sept. 25, Jordan Martin received second in his class, and Owen Risser won first place in his first class and second place in his second class. Tobias Leaman's hogs, exhibited by Stephanie Mays, placed third and fourth in their market classes. Leah Welk won first and second place in her classes, and Gracie Hess placed third and fourth in her market classes. Junior FFA member Jaclyn Martin received second and third place in her market classes.
Garden Spot FFA members also exhibited in the market lamb show on Sept. 25. Leah Welk received Grand Champion Lamb, and Grace Hess received third and fourth place for her lambs. In the market goat show, Leah Welk received Grand Champion, and Katie Ranck received two fourth-place awards and one sixth-place honor. This year, Garden Spot FFA collectively invested 320 community service hours at the fair, helping with setup, teardown and the food stand.
FFA chapter president Jessica Herr was crowned fair queen on Sept. 25. Competitors represented 16 clubs from Lampeter-Strasburg High School. Jessica will represent the West Lampeter Community Fair at the state contest in January 2020.
Garden Spot FFA members participated in Upperclassmen Livestock Evaluation Contest on Sept. 26. The Hans Herr FFA, Pequea Valley FFA, Grassland FFA, and Manor FFA chapters also participated. Also on Sept. 26, the dairy beef and market steer show was held, and seven Grassland FFA members placed within their classes. In the market steer show, Jordan Martin placed second twice within his classes, Jaclyn Martin placed third and fourth within her classes and Jared Risser placed second twice within his classes. In the dairy beef section of the show, Tyler Stoltzfus placed second and fifth in his classes, Bryce Good placed first and second within his classes, Alexis Rohrer placed second twice and received Champion Novice Showman within her classes, and Danae Ranck received Grand Champion Dairy Beef and Champion Senior Showman.
On Sept. 27, the underclassmen had a judging contest so that current agricultural education students can learn more about how to judge animals and crops. The youth livestock auction also took place. Among the animals auctioned off were Tobias Leaman's two pigs. Tobias had been diagnosed with bone cancer over the summer and, due to his condition, was unable to continue caring for his pigs. FFA members took on the responsibility of finishing his market hog project. The proceeds from the sale of Tobias' pigs were returned to Tobias' family to cover medical expenses. The community raised more than $20,000 to go toward Tobias' medical expenses and future endeavors. That night, members of Garden Spot FFA, Manor FFA and 4-H gathered to show their support of Tobias.
Local companies and individuals collectively invested $39,250 in Garden Spot FFA youth livestock exhibitors at the fair.
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