Members of both the Junior Beef and Junior Dairy Clubs were recognized during the evening for their 2024 accomplishments. Thompson Goddard Photo
CHESTERVILLE – Friends, family and Dundas County 4-H members and leaders celebrated at the 2024 Dundas County 4-H Awards Night. The theme for the evening, held on Sat., Jan. 25 at The Gathering Place in Chesterville had a theme of Boots and Bling. Corbin Fisher and Emma Hess shared the emcee duties during the evening, with close to 60 members, friends and family members enjoying the event.
Throughout the evening there was plenty of opportunity to renew friendships, enjoy a bite to eat and celebrate the accomplishments of both the volunteers and members. After the reciting of the 4-H pledge 4-H Ontario Region 2 Volunteer Coordinator Lyndsay Berry brought greetings from 4-H Ontario and congratulated the volunteers and members, noting how “4-H does not happen without you.”
Volunteers were honoured for their dedication and work for the club with several presented with milestone pins. Lara Andrews, Patty Duke-Daines, Chloe Hart and Leslie Levere were presented with their one-year pin, a five-year pin was presented to Melissa Dow and Dan Schuler, a 15 year pin to Julie Denison and Heather McDiarmid and Paul Porteous receiving his 40 year pin as well as gift. The work of David Mathers, Phyllis McMaster, Karen Hart, Andrew Hodgins, Sandy O’Connor and Kelly Fawcett-Mathers were acknowledged.
Beef, Dairy and Gardening Clubs were held in 2024, with each member completing a project recognized with a short review of their achievements during the year. The Beef Club and the Dairy club members prepared a power point presentation which highlighted their activities and achievements during the year.
On July 23, 2024 the Dundas County 4-H club held a Judging Day organized by Karen Hart and Phyllis MacMaster at the fairgrounds in South Mountain. MacMaster commented how to judge classes is an important skill to develop, and thanked the Mountain Township Agricultural Society for the use of the fairgrounds and the volunteers who assisted at the event. The classes covered at the Judging Day included dairy and beef cattle, green beans, home made bread with the mystery class being chickens.
2024 was the final year of 4-H for graduating member Brennan Daly who was presented with a parting gift from the organization, with Taylor Mather receiving the Dundas County 4-H Scholarship.
As the evening drew to a close, there was a note of thanks extended to all the sponsors who assist the Dundas County 4-H Club, with a look ahead to another exciting year for the Club in 2025.
