CUSTER COUNTY—A staple of the annual Custer County Fair will change for 2023. The 4-H Dog Show for this next year will be switching from Friday evening to the previous Saturday morning as well as adding an event.
During the Ag Society (fair board) meeting on Sunday, December 11 members of the Dog Gone Fun 4-H Club Shayla Staab and Peyton Williams asked the board to consider moving the dog show. The show is usually held on Friday evening of the fair and often lasts until 11 p.m. or later. Staab and Williams asked to move the show to the weekend before: on the Saturday morning following the annual Thursday night fashion show.
“When the dog show starting time is 5:30 p.m. the show tends to not end until between 11 p.m. and midnight making it an extremely late night for parents, judges, and kids. Unfortunately we cannot just move the time up as we will be overlapping the 4-H shooting contest and most parents are not able to get off work early enough,” Shayla Staab told the board.
They also asked to add a rally event to the dog show which would allow dog show contestants to gain more experience in the event prior to the Nebraska State Fair each year. Rally is similar to obedience but more of an independent navigation through a course. Due to the full schedule of events previously held in the annual dog show, there was not time to add any more events.
“This event—adding rally—would benefit both kids and dogs as they would know and understand how to do rally. I am proud to say that our county competes very well at the state dog show,” Peyton Williams said.
The fair board asked if the change would add any costs to the fair, and the club members and leaders said no. Leaders will look into providing concession items for audience members and judges.
The dog show usually has around 30 participants and Custer County usually sends 10-12 contestants to the state fair. Club members and leaders said they hope moving the dog show will allow more 4-Hers to participate and allow the public to better enjoy viewing the entire dog show if it starts earlier in the day. 4-H Council representative Marla Stallbaumer said the council had approved the idea.
Ag Society member Rodney Lamb made a motion and Steve Horn seconded the motion–which carried–to move the dog show from Friday night to the previous Saturday morning. In 2023, the new time for the dog show is scheduled for Saturday, July 22 at 8 a.m.
