Spending time at the county fair each July has been something I have enjoyed doing since I first started working for The News-Banner some 25 years ago.
We try our best each summer to cover all aspects of the Wells County 4-H Fair, as there is much to highlight each year as we recognize all the work that so many 4-Her’s put into their projects. The hard work, dedication, integrity and sportsmanship that you see from Wells County 4-Her’s shows just how important this organization is in our community and for posterity.
I spent a few hours at the fairgrounds Sunday afternoon to help cover an event and observed what I have grown accustomed to seeing every year — confident kids and teens working hard while learning and applying lifelong skills that will help them for years to come.
Being able to recognize those 4-H’ers every summer in The News-Banner is always a highlight for me.
And in case you’re wondering, our annual News-Banner 4-H tab will be printed in early August.
We try to capture as many highlights as possible each summer to put into the tab. While I won’t be able to help with the tab as much this year as I have in the past, I found myself at the fairgrounds Sunday afternoon to take pictures of some award winners and collect their names.
Our tradition at The News-Banner has been to publish the pictures and names of all award winners a few weeks after the county fair ends. It requires a team effort, as there are a plethora of pictures to take and names to compile as we put together the tab.
In journalism, a picture is not complete unless you write a cutline — the text that appears below the image to identify the who, what, when, where and why featured in the picture.
That task is pretty simple when you’re taking pictures of 4-H’ers and their awards, as it only requires us to write down what award the 4-H’er won and his or her name. The former is easy; the latter is a tad more difficult than it used to be because of how many different ways there are to spell a person’s name.
“Could you spell your name for me,” I always ask.
Sometimes the response is, “Oh, it’s the common spelling.”
About this time is when I crack a smile and ask if the person could spell it for me just to make sure I don’t make a mistake.
I wonder sometimes if they think my spelling is lousy since I always ask for clarification when writing down names that seem easy to spell because they are “common”; however, even the most common names today seem to have multiple spellings.
Take for example the name Abby.
A-B-B-Y is what I would write down if someone said her name was Abby. But I have seen the same name spelled Abbie, Abbey, Abi, Aby and Abbi.
Which one is the common spelling? I’m not sure and I always ask.
One of the first phrases I learned when I started working for The News-Banner was, “When it doubt, check it out.” Those six words have always stuck with me even when completing a task as simple as making sure we have the correct spelling for someone’s name.
The second part of that phrase that I learned from Joe Smekens and Glen Werling was, “If still in doubt, leave it out.” It seems our national media may need a reminder of those seven simple words, but we’ll save that topic for another day.
The county fair continues through Thursday this week at the 4-H Fairgrounds on the city’s south side. Be sure to make a trip to the fairgrounds and compliment a 4-H’er on his or her project.
Better yet, attend the Premier Auction at 2 p.m. Thursday or the Livestock Auction at 3:30 p.m. Thursday to bid on one of the 4-H’ers projects. The money these teens earn each summer helps them with postsecondary plans.
We’ll do our best this year to highlight the week’s happenings.
jdpeeper2@hotmail.com
