HAMBURG, N.Y. — Amid the rides, the food, and the frivolity of it all, some perhaps lose sight of the root purpose of the fair, which is to promote agriculture.
While the fair remains a highlight of the summer for many, that may be even more so for farm kids.
Perhaps nowhere are the fairs agricultural roots on display more so than in these barns, where 4-H members are hard at work taking care of and showing the animals they raised for competition.
But not all of these young people live on farms.
Gerhardt Farms of Marilla is one of several that participate in the 4-H leasing program, involving kids who don't live on farms, but want to learn more.
Rachel McNamara is one of the leasees.
"The lease program is essentially borrowing an animal from them, and they teach us how to train and raise them, and we learn more about the farm that way too," she said.
But there's a method to all this for her beyond the barnyard.
This fall she will attend Nazareth College to pursue a degree in occupational therapy, with an emphasis on animal assisted therapy, and figure her experience here will help.
"They don't offer a program that is animal-specific, but I can go and do my senior research project about animal specific," she said.
Often times animals are sold after the fair: a blue-ribbon prize winner can fetch top dollar for the youngster who raised them, money that many of them use toward college.
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