Agricultural News
Show Season in Full Swing in Preparation for Oklahoma Youth Expo
Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:40:56 CST
At fair barns all across the state, it's show season. Young people are showing their animals and getting ready for the Oklahoma Youth Expo in Oklahoma City in mid-March. Tyler Norvell, the executive director of the Oklahoma Youth Expo, spoke with Radio Oklahoma Network's Ron Hays recently about preparations for OYE.
"The road to the OYE has definitely begun here in Oklahoma. It's fun to go out and see the young people getting geared up for show season, with local and county shows trying to qualify- We're open to all young people who have a project to come to the OYE. So, we are really excited. We are right on par from previous years with animals nominated at nearly 18,000. So it's just great to see the number of young people involved in the program."
With the drought continuing and the economy in rural areas still slowing, many people were expecting to see a little less enthusiasm for the OYE this year. Norvell says if there's any lack of enthusiasm for the program, he hasn't seen it.
"We have not. We've kind of expected it, but it hasn't happened and that just goes to show what the program means to the families and the folks in rural Oklahoma.
"I had a father tell me the other day it didn't matter to him if it cost him $15,000 a year and they didn't get anything back, he was doing the program because it kept his kids out from in front of the TV or the Play Station and sitting in the house. It wasn't about what they got back financially; maybe it's about what they got out of it from a moral and character standpoint."
The show starts on March 16, and the schedule has been altered from years past, Norvell says.
"We changed the schedule, one, to get it back on spring break. A lot of school administrators had concerns about kids being gone for the full week, so we got it back on spring break. And the other thing is we flip-flopped the breeding and market shows. This year we'll start off with the market shows on March 16, in that area, and then we'll have the premium sale on Friday night instead of a Monday night. So the premium sale this year is Friday night, March 22. And then once the premium sale is over we will show the breeding animals, in particular, the heifers and the gilts because those are, by far, the largest breeding shows."
Norvell says one of the results of the massive change in schedules will be that there will be lots of kids during both weekends of the program.
"We are expecting exhibitors from all 77 counties, like we have every year. Working with the Oklahoma Visitors Bureau, we feel there's about 100,000 people that come through the fairgrounds that week making us one of the largest single events in Oklahoma City. It's quite overwhelming whenever they show you all of the figures and you're a 24-and-a-half-million-dollar economic impact to Oklahoma City. So, we're expecting a huge crowd and a lot of folks."
That financial impact is something Norvell sees year-round as he works on fundraising efforts to support the program and the scholarships awarded to students.
"It's quite humbling to see the resources people put forward to help young people. And that's been very humbling over the past year, how much people care. And we work with the Sirloin Club and the Diamond Hats. The Sirloin Club is a group that's been here since the 50's that helps the show. We're having the Sirloin Club banquet coming up next week where all the money raised there from the chalices sold for the grand animals to just the other fundraising live auction items, all that money goes to the premium sale.
"The Diamond Hats had their event, that's our women's group, had that last fall. They raised almost $50,000 there and a big chunk of that will be going into the premium sale. And then we work with other sponsors where they give resources and we select young people-we've already done our academic scholarship interviews where we selected about 38 young people from across the state to win one of those. And then we also have our breeding scholarships we'll award based on how the young people do in the breeding show."
Support this year puts the OYE near a fundraising milestone, Norvell says.
"We'll be close to a million dollars in terms of scholarships given out which will be a little over $200,000 as well as close to $750,000-$800,000 in the premium sale. It's just overwhelming. And that's not including the products we'll give away to kids whether it be a t-shirt or feed or other things like that, and trailers that will be awarded to the winners in each species. So, it's just amazing the amount of things that are presented to these young people during this week."
Numbers aside, Norvell says the true impact of the OYE goes far beyond economics.
"This program-Gov. Mary Fallin said it best one time-programs like the OYE, 4-H, and FFA are an investment in human capital. It's an investment in young people.
"It's amazing to me the sponsors we have here in Oklahoma City like the McDonald's, the Devons, the Chesapeakes that maybe aren't directly in the agricultural field. They say, 'We want to hire folks that come out of your program,' meaning 4-H, FFA, and OYE, 'because they have a work ethic, character. They're fiscally responsible.' And that's the things that this program does.
"And if you look, a lot of the young people that go through this program stay home to go through college and they come back here and they work here. And they have the good jobs. Whether it be somebody that has a blue-collar job or a white-collar job, it's the kids, the individuals the companies want to hire. And I think it's huge for our state to continue this program. Because everywhere I travel as I have the opportunity to go, maybe help with other livestock shows or judge other livestock shows in the country, everybody says, 'We want what you have in Oklahoma.' And it's because of programs like Oklahoma Youth Expo."
You can learn more about the upcoming Oklahoma Youth Expo online at: http://www.okyouthexpo.com/home.htm. You'll find their revamped calendar at: http://www.okyouthexpo.com/files/schedule.pdf
You can hear the full conversation between Ron Hays and Tyler Norvell by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
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