The Williams Lake and District 64th Annual Show and Sale returned in full force this year with 10 clubs participating.
Between Aug. 4 and Aug. 8 youth from the Big Lake, Canim Valley, Chimney Valley, Highland, Horsefly, Lone Butte, Rose Lake/Miocene, San Jose, Springhouse and Williams Lake First Nation 4-H clubs along with their families took over the Williams Lake Stockyards with displays and showings.
On Monday, Aug. 8, the show culminated with the parade of champions and the sale where local businesses and supporters bid on livestock the children had raised.
The sale saw 81 steers sold for an average of $4.72 a pound, 25 swine for an average of $12 a pound and 19 lambs for an average of $11.90 a pound.
“I would just like to give a general thank you to all the supporters and businesses in Williams Lake, 100 Mile and the surrounding areas that help support us and get us here this week,” said district president Ross Stafford who was the master of ceremonies for the parade of champions which took place prior to the sale.
“Without you we wouldn’t be able to put this on.”
Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars said Williams Lake is a ranching community and 4-H is well supported.
“I heard some really cool statistics this week,” Sellars said. “You go to other districts and hear what they are getting for their products, whether swine, sheep or whatever, it’s 25 per cent of what we get here in Williams Lake.”
He said it was an honour to welcome everyone to the traditional territory of the Williams Lake First Nation and to support the program.
“We heard it from the judge earlier this week. He said, ‘we’re raising kids here.’ I think that rang true for me the most because it’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re raising good kids, good communities and a good region.”
For the fourth year in a row, Riata Seelhof of the Horsefly 4-H Club won Grand Champion Steer and Top Home Grown Steer for her 1,315 pound red angus steer.
When asked how she did it, she shrugged and said she guessed it was the type of steer she picked and that she was “kind of lucky.”
Riata said her steer did not have much of a personality at first and was a little bit wild, but then settled in to be “good.”
As she waited outside for her turn to sell her 1,190 pound steer Sunny, Gabrielle Meier of the Big Lake 4-H Club said she had fun this year.
She also raised a cow-calf named Dolly who she described as a happy project and gorgeous.
“When I showed her she walked with such pride I never had to pull her.”
Tyrone Thomas from the Canim Valley 4-H Club said it was his 10th year in the program.
“It was fun,” he said. “I raised my third steer.”
4-H is a good learning experience, he added.
“You have to learn to go with the flow sometimes. It is hard work, but fun.”
Chelsea Wheetman, 13, was visiting her steer in one of the stalls at the east end of the stockyards and said she had cried a couple of times.
“I feel sad all the time when I sell a steer. Last year my mom had to drag me out.”
A member of the San Jose 4-H Club, Chelsea named her steer Barney, “like the dinosaur.”
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