Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
The idea is to acquaint and encourage youngsters to preserve items of the past.
The old stuff can either be cleaned up for exhibit or completely stripped down, refurbished and made "good as new."
In its second year, the Our American Heritage project is to county 4-H'ers with no competition at the state level. Five boys participated this year.
Leader Frank Rhoades, a member of the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds board, said it takes hard work to complete a project.
Another category requires an item just to be cleaned up for exhibit.
Eli Wise started with his grandfather's open-sided wheelbarrow. He reclaimed the metal parts, wire-brushed the rust and repainted them. Then, with new lumber, he reassembled the piece as an entry in the hand tool class.
Notebooks account for 75 percent of the score and are on display in the antiques equipment area at the fairgrounds.
Each notebook has a record sheet and pages and pages of photographs illustrating the restoration process.
The boys were expected to get help from the "older" generation, and several parents are featured lending a hand.
Jason Harrold was named grand champion.
"He's a walking specifications manual for the 1949 John Deere model B," Frank Rhoades said of the boy.
Harrold, a 10th-grader, is a member of the Beaver Dam Better 4-H'ers.
He's put the old Deere to use, too; the final photograph shows Harrold discing a field with his project.
"That is what blew the judge away," Rhoades said, "the fact that he's using the Deere on the farm."
This year's judge gave high scores for the boy's knowledge of technical details. Next year the judge will be looking for something else.
Classes include: household - kitchen, pottery, pottery glass, etc.; hand tools; horse drawn and related items; farm tractors, implements and other farm machinery; lawn tractors; and stationary engines.
The divisions are grades three through eight for juniors and nine through 12 for seniors.
