(Marion) – Plan B is now in full effect for this year’s Guadalupe County Youth Livestock and Homemakers Show. Following the city of Seguin’s decision in December to cancel all events at its city facilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, youth show committee members say they had no choice but to find an alternate location to host the various events for the weeklong contest. Up until this year, the youth show and auction have been held at the Guadalupe County Fairgrounds.
Debra Reiley, co-secretary for the youth show committee, says the committee’s alternate plans, however, meant splitting up the event into different locations.
“Our rabbits, goats and poultry, lambs and steers will all show at the Country Church in Marion. They have a big arena and we have set up a plan for all of them to share that arena for the week. The other animal is the swine and because of the number of swine entries, we had to move that show to La Vernia Chamber of Commerce. They host their own show, so they already have the facilities in place, the right around of pens that kind of stuff. They host two shows. They have a breeding show and then they have a market show and it’s at two separate days and two separate times and that’s the reason we had to move them because of the size of the show,” said Reiley.
Kora and Clayton Wilkins spend their weekend shearing their goats in preparation of this year’s Guadalupe County Youth Livestock and Homemakers Show. Courtesy photo
Reiley says the auction itself has also landed a new home for this year’s youth show.
“We finalize the week on Saturday. On Jan. 23 is the annual auction. Well, normally, we use the dance slab for that, but we are not going to be able to do that. We had made plans to use another venue and that fell through so we have now secured the Red Barn or the Texas Agricultural Heritage Center and that is where the youth show auction will take place because the venues are all under restrictions during the COVID numbers, we are only going to be able to have 400 visitors at the Red Barn. That is the maximum amount of people, buyers, workers, everything that can be inside the Red Barn. So, we have a whole plan for that. It’s been trying and we are doing the best we can but at the end of the day, the exhibitors are going to show their animals and they are going to auction them off,” said Reiley.
By hosting the various contests at different locations, Reiley says the committee believes it will also help cut down on the number of people gathering at one spot.
“We have a COVID plan. Right now, all the exhibitors and spectators will be required to wear masks. The exhibitor will be wearing masks in the show ring. That is a mandatory thing. We will provide hand sanitizer all over all the facilities. We are going to practice social distancing as best as we can. The spectators, we have asked our exhibitors and their families to limit who comes down to watch,” said Reiley.
Reiley says even before considering a Plan B, the committee had to first come to an understanding that safety would be its top priority.
“We are doing our best to try to keep everybody safe. We all have concerns even those who are involved as volunteers. We are all worried about getting COVID or creating more of a spread, but we are going spread the spectators out in the stands. They’ll be six feet apart just like we do at football games or basketball games or anything that is going on sports wise, you know we are going to make it work for our spectators and for our kids. We just pray that everyone is safe and healthy and practices what we’ve been doing – wearing masks, social distancing and washing our hands,” said Reiley.
Shiloh Purdum not only will show her lamb, Twister but she’ll also spend some time in the kitchen preparing a baked good entry for this year’s show. Courtesy photo
Reiley says potentially cancelling the youth show was not just about this one week in January.
The committee knew that it would be throwing away thousands and thousands of hours and dollars spent by these kids on their projects. She says all those early mornings and late nights spent raising or creating projects would have been for nothing.
“Right now, we have 463 exhibitors with running about 1,500 entries and the reason the entry number is higher is because kids can enter as much as they want in any category. You know they can have a steer. They can have a swine. They can have a goat. They can have a baked good. So, that’s why that number is always higher than the actual exhibitor number. Our entries are actually down a little bit this year. But we expected that. You know the cost of feeding animals and the cost of putting in the work for a year, you know, it’s been taxing on some of our families,” said Reiley.
Perhaps a silver lining in all these changes is the level of support that is expected for all area students during this year’s show. In fact, having to limit the number of spectators, has helped to pull in some incredible support by a pair of businesses.
“The best news on that part and it just happened (Thursday), MT Heart Livestock and D&D (Texas Outfitters) are sponsoring a company to come in and live stream all of the shows and the auction. So, grandparents and aunts and uncles and all of those people that can’t or don’t feel safe about coming to the show can actually watch the kid’s show live. We were going to do the best to go live through Facebook – as amateurs we were going to try and do our best but having a company come in and do it is great,” said Reiley.
Reiley says one of the other layers in that silver lining is the opportunity for everyone to participate and support a student ahead of this weekend’s auction.
“Currently, we just sent out a letter onto our Facebook page, our Instagram page, if you were a buyer with us last year, then you got the letter. We are taking stuff (add-ons) right now. You don’t have to wait until next Saturday to even add $20 to a kid. If you know a kid out there that is showing and you know they are participating, you can send me an email and I’ll take that $20 from you. That is probably the one thing that we need to really stress this year because we have never really done that before – that beforehand stuff – because we know some of our buyers cannot come to the auction next Saturday. We know that with social distancing, it’s just not going to happen. So, if we can get the word out. They can send us an email. They can call my cell phone. They can call any board member and say, we want to add on to these kids,” said Reiley.
This year, Reiley says students need that financial support more than ever.
“I know a lot of these families got caught in the spring of last year. They were unable to show at the San Antonio Show and show at Austin and Houston show because they shut down. So, some of those families lost out. I have a niece and nephew that show steers and my nephew had a steer for Houston that we just had to butcher and he didn’t get to show. So, there was no chance for those kids to make any money. So, they are still recouping from the spring as well. The importance of this show is that this goes back into their scholarship money. They are raising these animals and they are competing all year long all over the state for scholarship money, for funds to put into their scholarship funds. These are hard, hard working kids. They are some of the best of the best that are out there,” said Reiley.
Dakotah Ackermann finalizes her ag mechanic s welding project for this year’s youth show.
Reiley says all contributions are welcome. She says no matter what school district students represent, this year has definitely challenging.
“The nice thing about our show is even if a kid does not place and does not make the sale, they can still get add-ons as a non-placing animal or project. The only way an exhibitor cannot receive money and it’s in our rulebook is because one, they are ineligible to show based on UIL rules or two, they just didn’t come. They didn’t bring their project. They didn’t come to the show and show,” said Reiley. “So, anyone that participants and comes down there and tries their hardest can get an add-on.”
Participants in the youth show represent school districts as well as FFA and 4H programs throughout Guadalupe County. The show again begins today and runs through Saturday.
The auction on Saturday gets underway at noon at the Big Red Barn. Buyers registration is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Again, those looking to include an add-on for a particular student may do so by emailing dmgcys@gmail.com or by contacting Reiley at 830-305-0456. Financial contributions can also be added in the comment section during the live stream of the event.
For link information to view the show and auction live visit the Guadalupe County Youth Show Facebook page. A complete schedule of this year’s show plus buyer information can also be found at gcys.org.