Chilliwack 4-H members bring home top prizes from PNE competition

Several 4-H club members in the Chilliwack district won top prizes from the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) recently.

A total of 12 Chilliwack youth and two Agassiz kids brought home awards from the PNE 4-H Festival, which was held Aug. 18 to Aug. 23 in Vancouver.

“These kids have worked hard and it paid off,” said Debbie Frose, president of the Chilliwack 4-H Senior Council. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a district do this well at the PNE.”

She said a lot of folks may not know how much time and effort the kids put into raising the animals and prepping them for competition.

The 4-H members have been caring for the animals by exercising them, training them and loving them since birth or since they were a few months old.

At the PNE, the kids were often up at 4:30 a.m. cleaning out pens and doing other work before any members of the public even arrived, Frose noted.

“Success for each member looks different. For some it may mean being able to show that stubborn lamb with ease after working tirelessly with it, for others it may be getting the perfect fitting job on their calf, or maybe it’s winning Champion Market animal in their respective project,” she said. “Whatever their goal is, as a leader it is so rewarding watching these members achieve it after all the hard work and many hours they put in.”

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There are seven clubs in the Chilliwack district: Chilliwack Lamb 4-H Club, Chilliwack Dairy and Beef 4-H Club, Chilliwack Dog 4-H Club, Agassiz Rainbow 4-H Club, Behind the Bit 4-H Club, Chilliwack Community 4-H Club, and Valley Beef 4-H Club.

There were 22 different clubs from seven districts competing at the PNE 4-H Festival. Approximately 200 members competed and about 25 of those were from Chilliwack.

Here are the local members who came home with awards from the PNE 4-H Festival. Despite their club names, all of the members listed are from Chilliwack except Emma and Mila Dinn who are from Agassiz. Their clubs are in parenthesis:

Chloe Vanderkooi - Reserve Dairy Calf, Champion Senior Dairy Showman and Champion Overall Dairy Showman, Top Dairy Member, 1st Senior Dairy Fitting (Agassiz Rainbow)

Alyssa Vanderkooi - Champion Calf, Reserve Champion Senior Dairy Showman and Reserve Overall Dairy Showman, 2nd place Dairy Member (Agassiz Rainbow)

Chelsea Frose - Reserve Champion Market Lamb, Reserve Champion Carcass Lamb, Top Swine Judge, Top Overall Judge (Agassiz Rainbow)

Dawson Biersteker - Reserve Champion Carcass Hog (Agassiz Rainbow)

Evan Biersteker - Champion Carcass Hog (Agassiz Rainbow)

Holden Frose - Champion Market Hog (Agassiz Rainbow)

Claudia Kortekaas - Reserve Champion Lamb Showmanship, Reserve Overall Lamb Showman (Chilliwack Lamb)

Emma Dinn - Champion Intermediate Dairy Showman, 1st Intermediate Dairy Fitting, 3rd place Dairy Member (Agassiz Rainbow)

Mila Dinn - 1st Senior Educational Display, 1st Senior Writing Competition (Agassiz Rainbow)

Brianne Arink - 3rd Junior Educational Display (Agassiz Rainbow)

Julie Chadwick - 3rd Senior Writing Competition (Chilliwack Community Club)

Mary Balfour - 3rd Senior Speak and Show (Behind the Bit)

Sarah Balfour - Top Non-Livestock Judge (Behind the Bit)

Mirrah Webster - Reserve Champion Junior Beef Fitting (Valley Beef)

“The PNE was a huge success for all the members of the Chilliwack 4-H district with a large number of those members winning top awards,” Frose said. “As a club leader and the president of the Chilliwack 4-H Senior Council, I am so proud of all the members who represented our district at the PNE this year.”