Students place fifth in 4-H cooking showdown

Glenrock students Kennadi Harvey, Josie Mares and Julia Skinner placed fifth in the juniors cook-off challenge at the Wyoming 4-H Fall Showdown held Oct. 17-18 at the state fairgrounds in Douglas.

Children ages 8 to 18 traveled from across the state to compete in the weekend event and show off their skills in the areas of cooking, cake decorating, meats, wool shearing, robotics and more.

The kids rose to the challenges with zeal. They swiftly chopped vegetables in the cook-off; hefty, soft hunks of wool the size of beach balls were left in their wake after the wool contest.

The cooking contest on Saturday saw six teams from various towns working together to make dishes like sausage pasta skillets and whole bean soup with Italian sausage. Teams were judged in a variety of areas like creativity, preparation, safety concerns and nutrition knowledge.

In the juniors cooking matchup on Saturday, Skinner, Mares and Harvey squared off against teams from Unita, Albany, Big Horn and Natrona counties.

The coronavirus sparked some changes to the fall showdown, usually held at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. Some events, like livestock judging, were held virtually over the summer.

The events held at the state fairgrounds last weekend were events that could not as easily have been held virtually. The venue also provided wider access to its space and buildings than the UW campus due to its restrictions, said Wyoming 4-H program coordinator Johnathan Despain.

Interested in joining the Converse County 4-H program? If so, call the University of Wyoming Converse County 4-H Extension office at 307-358-2417 or email office manager/admin Leah Roberts via converse@wyoextension.org