August 12-13-14, 2009
North Branch Park, Milltown Road, Bridgewater, N.J.
Time flies when you have kids, and I can’t believe London and Maddie are finishing up their second year of 4-H Prep with the grand finale — the Somerset County 4-H Fair in Bridgewater, New Jersey — coming up in just two weeks. The free family fair, showcasing kids projects from animals to rockets, trains and home economics, runs from Wednesday, August 12th through Friday, August 14th, 2009. Rex and the girls and I will be there on Thursday afternoon and evening serving up cotton candy and taking lots of pictures to share with those of you who can’t make it out to the 4-H Fairgrounds.What began as a dairy show in a farm field has become one of the marquee events on the Somerset County cultural calendar and the premier free fair in New Jersey…
I have been going to the Somerset County 4-H Fair for over 35 years, since before I was even old enough to be a 4-H Prep Club member. Despite the fact that we live in Morris County, as soon as London was old enough to join last September, I started taking her over to the Prep Club meetings at the Ted Blum 4-H Center in Bridgewater, NJ (Somerset County, about five minutes from the house I grew up in). After London’s second year and Maddie’s first official year in the Crazy Clovers Prep Club (Maddie participated as a “tag-along” when she was too young to join), our family continues to believe that Somerset County 4-H is the best 4-H experience in the surrounding area.
The Somerset County 4-H Fair, rather than going commercial with rides and games, focuses on the kids and their achievements. Our whole family loves to see the dogs, cows, sheep, rabbits, goats, horses and alpaca. This past year, London and Maddie met the kids (and their pets) from the reptile club during one of their Crazy Clovers prep meetings, and the girls are hoping to get an anole and a leopard gecko in the Fall, so I bet we’ll be spending some time with the lizards at the 4-H Fair this summer. In the chicken tent, there’s always an incubator full of eggs with chicks being hatched before your eyes. Even though we haven’t yet found the right family pet (and 4-H focus when London graduates out of the Crazy Clovers Prep Club next year), Rex remains enthusiastic about the prospect of owning chickens, so we’ll be spending some quality time in the chicken tent with the Wattles and Snood club to learn more about the process of raising chickens.
This year’s Somerset County 4-H Fair promises to be bigger and better than ever, attracting tens of thousands of visitors with its wholesome mix of arts, entertainment, agriculture, animals, science, food, fellowship and just plain fun.
The 2009 Somerset County, NJ 4-H Fair runs Wednesday, August 12th through Friday, August 14th. 10am-10pm all days. And late in the afternoon/early evening of Thursday, August 13th, you can look for London, Maddie and me in the 4-H Prep Club Cotton Candy Tent! Hope to see you there…