Top showmen compete at the fair with Audrey Pask winning grand master title
Photos by Tom Rivers
KNOWLESVILLE – Audrey Pask, 18, of Barre smiles after being presented the trophy as the grand master showman at the Orleans County 4-H Fair on Friday evening. She is congratulated by Kylie Marion, left, and Celes Paratore, the reserve grand master.
Pask won one of the most prestigious titles at the fair. The competition features the master showman in nine different animals: horse Western, horse English, dairy goat, meat goat, sheep, swine, llama, dairy cattle and beef cattle.
Audrey Pask shows a steer during the grand master showman. She qualified after winning the showman competition for sheep.
Pask was praised by judge Emma Kron for her overall consistency showing the animals.
“She maintained eye contact, showed confidence ad had the ring presence,” Kron said.
Kron wants to see the showmanship skills, how the 4-H’ers present the animals. She also asks them questions to test their knowledge of the species.
Pask has won the small animal grand master three years. She competes in that event this morning. Winning the large animal grand master is a great honor, she said.
“I was surprised because there was a lot of tough competition,” she said.
She has been showing sheep for more than a decade, since she was a Cloverbud in the 4-H program. She also showed horses for eight years.
Pask said the temperatures in the mid-80s was hard on all of the master showman – and the animals as the event stretched past two hours. At times she had sweat dripping into her eyes “and it was burning.”
But she didn’t let it rattle her.
Judge Emma Kron watches how the master showmen line up and present these beef cattle during Friday’s grand master showmen competition.
The master showmen included:
- Audrey Pask, 18,of Barre, representing sheep
- Brilyn Rebisz, 18, of Bergen, representing dairy goats
- Danielle Schmidt, 18, of Medina, representing llamas
- Celes Paratore, 14, of Corfu, representing meat goats
- Kylie Marion, 17, of Kendall, representing English horse
- Ruth Kuipers, 12, of Byron, representing pigs and beef cattle
- Georgia Baxter, 13, of Churchville, representing dairy cows
- Sophia Englant, 15, of Hamlin, representing Western horse
Danielle Schmidt of Medina leads a horse in the Western horse part of the competition. She qualified for the competition after winning the llama showman title.
Brilyn Rebisz of Bergen, right, and Ruth Kuipers of Byron keep their eyes on the judge while showing sheep. The master showmen have to work with nine different animal species and need to show animals that they didn’t previously work with during the fair.
Celes Paratore of Corfu, the reserve grand master, keeps a pig under control during the competition.
Kylie Marion of Kendall, left, and Sophia Englant of Hamlin, right, show these dairy animals. They both qualified for their showmanship skills with horses.
Georgia Baxter of Churchville leads a beef animal into the show ring. She qualified after winning the dairy title on Wednesday.
