More than 10,000 4-H projects and contest entries will be on display at this year’s event in Hutchinson
By Pat Melgares, K-State Extension news service
MANHATTAN, Kan. – For those who may be a sucker for really cool 4-H projects at the Kansas State Fair, this one’s among the sweetest.
Fifteen-year-old Regan Oplotnik of Girard was named Senior Reserve Champion for visual arts at the Crawford County Fair for artwork featuring six horses standing in a stream along a bank of bright red and green trees and jagged rocks.
The kicker? Every detail in the 34 X 22 inch picture is made from wrappers of Dum Dum lollipops.
“I had a lot of help from family, friends, classmates, teammates and other 4-H members collecting all of the Dum Dum wrappers that I needed,” Oplotnik said. “Finding certain colors of Dum Dum wrappers was hard and expensive to do.”
Oplotnik’s masterpiece will be among more than 10,000 4-H projects on display when the Kansas State Fair begins its 10-day run Sept. 5 in Hutchinson. The Kansas 4-H program reports that youth compete in more than three dozen project areas, and the majority of the county-level winners will be shown at this year’s state fair.
According to the state 4-H office, most 4-H projects and contests can be viewed in Centennial Hall, the 4-H Showcase building, the 4-H Encampment building and the various livestock arenas.
This is the second year that Oplotnik’s unique art form will be on display at the Kansas State Fair. In 2024, she won a purple ribbon for a picture of a farm scene, which caught the attention of officials at the Spangler Candy Company, maker of the popular lollipops.
“They asked for permission to share my artwork on their Facebook and Instagram pages,” Oplotnik said. “They also asked to purchase my project, but since it was my first Dum Dum project and I had spent so many hours and months making it, I did not want to part with it. I denied their offer and it is hanging up in our house.”
William Allen of the Ninnescah Valley 4-H Club in Wichita used an estimated 6,000 building blocks to build a project he titled, ‘Clover Hotel.’ The impressive structure, which won Grand Champion at the Sedgwick County Fair this summer, sits on a custom display case that Allen built as his woodworking project, which also won the Grand Champion award.
“I love building different Lego creations and noticed that my Lego City had several different buildings, but there was nowhere for my Lego figures to stay,” said Allen, age 13. “So, the idea to build a hotel came from that. I spent the whole year (since the 2024 county fair) coming up with a plan and slowly buying the pieces I needed.”
The hotel has a working elevator controlled by remote, and a rooftop that features a swimming pool, gym and “a cool place to hangout,” according to Allen, whose career goals include becoming a trim carpenter, engineer, “or maybe even deep sea welding.”
Ellie and Anson Geist, siblings in the Piper 4-H Club in Wyandotte County and the fourth generation of their family to participate in 4-H, will each have several projects on display during this year’s Kansas State Fair.
Ellie, age 13, qualified for the Kansas State Fair in food and nutrition (caramel cookies), sewing and textile design (paisley dress) and photography. Anson, 11, qualified in photography, agricultural mechanics (safety and personal protective equipment, or PPE), woodworking (cake knife) and food and nutrition (gingerbread cookies).
“4-H is important because I learn so many skills that I wouldn’t learn otherwise,” said Ellie, who also entered a woodworking project at the county fair as a learning experience.
Anson adds: “Without 4-H, I wouldn’t have had sheep or learned how to take care of them. I am also involved in many hands-on projects where I learn about unique things – such as small engines. I learned how to perform spring maintenance on our family’s lawn mower.”
Fifteen-year-old Genevieve Crouch of Wichita, a member of the Valley Victors 4-H Club, traveled about 1,000 miles this past year looking for the missing piece to her fossil box, which won the Grand Champion award in geology at the Sedgwick County Fair this summer.
“Last summer, as I was putting my exhibits together and going through my past boxes of specimens, I realized that I had 10 of 11 phylums (a taxonomic ranking) – animal and plant – that are known to be found in Kansas,” Crouch said.
Crouch’s search for the missing phylum – Annelida, which is a fossil worm – took her on seven self-guided trips across Kansas, including 142 miles to the Decker Fossil and Science Museum in Sylvan Grove.
“(Owner) Ramo Decker recalled finding them 15 years ago…and they were still there,” said Crouch, who plans to pursue a career in the oil and gas industry or other geology-related field. “Afterwards, Ramo teased me because I was impressed with his fossil worms. He had shelves and displays of thousands of cool shark teeth, large fish, fossil turtles and reptiles – and here I was asking to find some little worms. It was pretty funny.”
Girard’s Oplotnik captured the essence of many of her 4-H colleagues’ commitment to their projects.
“To me,” she said, “4-H is about learning new things, meeting new people and being able to try things you may not think you can do. I hope that people can see these projects and use their own creativity to think outside the box.”
She added: “In my case, you can make art out of almost anything. Even if others don’t understand or appreciate it as much as you do, you can be proud of the hard work and effort you put into making something unique and interesting.”
Gates are open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on most days of this year’s Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson. More information is available online.
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