The University of Idaho Washington County Extension Office would like to thank everyone who attended the Autumn Showcase on Monday, November 16, 2015 at the Vendome in Weiser. Over 150 people joined us for dinner and an opportunity to learn more about 4-H and what services that UI Extension provides to our community. The showcase format was new this year, and very well received by patrons. In past years, the Extension office hosted a 4-H Open House during National 4-H Week in October and a “Stakeholders” dinner in January. This year, combined both events into one big, very active evening. We hoped to introduce new families to 4-H, as well as educate our community about the many and varied 4-H projects available. We had 4-H clubs representing some of the traditional 4-H projects, as well as projects like Leadership and Robotics. We also had displays about some of the activities 4-H members can get involved in, like Know Your Government (KYG) which is an opportunity to learn about citizenship and civic responsibility. Kotara Furukawa, a full-year exchange student from Japan shared about his county as well as the 4-H exchange program that brought him here. Extension is about a whole lot more than 4-H, and variety of those programs were presented as well. Dian Roberson from UI Canyon County Extension spent the evening talking to kids and adults about all kinds if insects, junior and master gardening, and composting. She had several varieties of composting worm bins for people to check out, as well. The Autumn Showcase was presented in an open-house style. Everyone was invited to view all of the booths, try their hands at some of the games, like livestock jeopardy, horse trivia, and leadership roulette and then join us for a delicious Idaho baked potato bar. We also used the Showcase as an opportunity to gather feedback from the community so that we can do a better job of meeting the needs and expectations of our county. Each person was given a comment card and invited to note their opinions about the displays or the programs they represent. When completed, the cards were dropped into a box, and then nearly a dozen lucky cards were drawn, winning 4-H and Extension prizes for their authors. The UI Washington County Extension would like to thank everyone who came and presented, brought food, or helped put on the show. We would also like to thank Mayor Diana Thomas and the City of Weiser for the use of the Vendome, and to the Vendome Staff , Alex and Kim as well.
