Shawville’s 4-H club held its annual dinner and awards banquet on Friday evening, welcoming the club’s members to the Jack Graham Community Centre in Bristol to celebrate a year of hard work and learning.
Before members and their families dug into the evening’s feast, club president Amy Sheppard opened the event with a few words of thanks, and a look back on all the members accomplished.
“Tonight is a chance to reflect on the year we spent together, on the hard work you put into your projects, and on the moments we shared,” she said.
She listed square dance competitions, the provincial rally, community fundraisers, achievement day, the Shawville Fair, and most recently the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair as just some of the challenges the club’s 76 active members took on.
This year the club had 17 dairy members, 22 beef, six goat, 14 sheep, six rabbit, eight horse, 18 market members, and about 27 square dancers. A single member took on a chicken project.
“Maybe you learned something new from a fellow member, or perhaps you had the chance to mentor one. Whatever your journey looked like, take a moment to appreciate how far you’ve come,” Sheppard said, extending a thank you to the club’s executive members, parents and volunteers for the support they offered throughout the year.
After dinner, members of all ages waited eagerly in their seats for their name to be called for one of the many awards being handed out.
The young member behind the chicken project was 4-H novice Florence Laframboise, who was honoured by the club with both the First Year Member High Aggregate John Grant Family Award, as well as the award for most outstanding first-year member.
“My chicken wasn’t that crazy and it wasn’t that hard to catch her,” Laframboise said of her hen Heneviève. “She was very good.”
Awards were given out for best judges by age category, and best overall judges, as well as most points accumulated by age category, and most points accumulated overall.
Ben Judd won the Rosbern Farms Prize for top judge, and Lyric McIntyre won first place in the overall aggregates category for having accumulated the most points throughout the year.
In the annual awards category, Raelynn Sally won most improved member, Eloise Thompson won the homemaker award, James Stephens won the most improved square dancer award, Mackenzie St-Pierre won the spirit award, Eloise Thompson won the dedication award for the 6-12 year old category, and Amy Sheppard for the 13-25 year old category.
Reese Rusenstrom was the recipient of the Eric Labine Memorial Award Bursary, created in memory of Labine, a Pontiac farmer who took his own life in 2019 at the age of 26.
“It means a lot to me to receive the Eric Labine Bursary because not only is it a great idea to help kids continue their education in agriculture, it’s a story that means so much in the farming world. Mental health is something that many farmers struggle with, that often goes unseen,” Rusenstrom said.
