DesotoExplorer.com

Eight-year-old Bailey Lockhart of De Soto got a surprise last Wednesday as she practiced for the Johnson County Fair with her lamb, Prancer.

"He peed in my boot," she said.

Bailey is entering the fair for the first time and decided she wanted to start working with sheep.

Earlier this year, Bailey bought a lamb to work with and show at the fair. She has been practicing with Prancer, working on how to get him into a proper stance and how to show him to judges. She also has to know facts about her lamb, like where certain parts are or what is the most common disease they can get.

However working with a lamb can be difficult, especially as Prancer grew to be almost as big as its owner.

"The hardest part is probably trying to keep him from jumping," Bailey said, "I named him Prancer because he started jumping like a reindeer."

Bailey is one of several members of De Soto's Pioneer 4-H Club who are preparing for the Johnson County Fair, which begins Monday and continues through Aug. 9.

Maddy Wolfe will be a freshman at De Soto High School this year, and she hoped this will be her year to win in the lamb competition, which she has entered for three years.

"I really want to win this year, but it might be more difficult because I'm in the senior division," she said.

Maddy said she became interested in the lamb competition because it was something different and she was interested in the chance to make money by selling back the lamb.

Unlike other Pioneer Club members showing lambs, Maddy hasn't named her show animal.

"The first year I named my lamb, and I got too attached to it," she said. "Then I didn't want to sell it, so now I don't name my lamb."

Pioneer member Garrett Stous, Shawnee, will celebrate his 11th birthday the day before the fair.

Garrett, who will be in sixth grade at Mill Creek Middle School, is busy this week completing his 4-H fair projects so he can have some time Sunday to have fun with his friends and attend a T-Bones game.

"I'm in the middle of painting my rocket, and I'm doing entomology," he said. "I also have to finish varnishing my trebuchet."

In all, Garrett is entering four categories in the fair including rocketry, woodworking, entomology and photography. But those aren't his only 4-H interests. He also likes to do machine sports and fishing, but he's not entering in those categories at the fair.

Garrett said he first became interested in rocketry, which is his favorite project along with woodworking, when he saw the rockets at the fair.

"I thought it might be cool," he said.

Those entering in rocketry get a kit to build a rocket and then launch it before the fair. Participants then have to paint it and put decals on to present it at the fair.

Though it seems easy, Garrett said building a rocket is more difficult that it looks.

"You have to put the fins on exactly right or else the rocket will fly off to an angle and not go straight up," he said.

His first year competing in rocketry proved successful as Garrett won a trophy for best first year in rocketry.

For his photography entry, Garrett is submitting a photo he took at the Grand Canyon, featuring the vast divide during the winter.

"He knew he wanted to enter in photography for the fair, so he took a lot of pictures thinking he would enter one of them," Garrett's mother, Deena Stous, said.

For his entomology entry, Garrett tries to find insects wherever he can. Some come from his grandparents' house and one came from the gas station.

"I just saw it laying there on the ground flopping around, so I picked it up," Garret's father, Darrell Stous, said

Garrett's 8-year-old sister Kirsten also is entering the fair this year. Except for baking, her projects are completed.

For the complete fair schedule, see Page 8B or on the Web at desotoexplorer.com

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