07/09/2025
Barn Buddies 4-H Club Pivots from Hosting Small Animal Experience
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For 15 years, Barn Buddies 4-H Club hosted the Small Animal Experience at the Northwest Washington Fair.
The 2025 fair will look different.
“We will pivot our focus at the August fair in a different direction,” Brooke Weimer explained. Weimer is one of the leaders for Barn Buddies 4-H Club, and has also served as coordinator of the Small Animal Experience for several years.
Barn Buddies 4-H Club exemplified, and put into action each year, the Small Animal Experience’s Mission Statement: “To provide an opportunity for the citizens of our community to become better educated by experiencing agriculture in an entertaining setting.”
Club members and families have dedicated hundreds of hours to the exhibit over the years, and members have gained animal husbandry knowledge, leadership skills, and community connections. And, forever memories surrounded by loving animals, 4-H friends, and red shirts with matching red decor.
“We are thankful for the thousands of community members who have volunteered at the Small Animal Experience throughout the past 15 years,” Weimer reiterated. “From serving on shifts throughout the fair, to displaying your animals, to assisting with set-up and clean-up, you have made an impact on this exhibit and on our community.”
The Small Animal Experience was created in 2009 through a collaboration between Barn Buddies 4-H Club, Club Leaders Debbie VanderVeen and Lacey VanderVeen, and the Northwest Washington Fair under the leadership of Jim Baron, with the purpose to educate the community on animal agriculture through displayed animals, signage, and engaging volunteers. The exhibit was a success, averaging more than 50,000 annual visitors.
The community is encouraged to continue learning more about animal agriculture through visiting the animal barns at the fair and the Farming for Life exhibit.
