The Skagit County Fair is happening August 8-11, 2024 and the Blair family will be there in full force, including all three kids, Kari, Kendrick and Katarina. Their mother, Kayleen, got them all into horses and 4-H, and it’s been a family affair ever since.
Kari is 10 years old this year and in the junior category at the County Fair. Kendrick is 13 and in the intermediate category. They are following in the footsteps of their big sister, Katarina, who was a super senior last year and is now a 4-H volunteer, helping at meetings and coaching kids.
Kari says she got into 4-H because she loves horses a lot. “Kelly, my horse, is a beautiful white with brown spotted paint,” she shares. “She also has one blue eye and one brown eye.” Kari will be competing in gaming, including barrel racing and pole bending.
These sports are based on time and one her sister loves too. “I like that it requires a lot of finesse and agility,” shares Katarina. “A lot goes into it.”
Keeping up with his sisters, Kendrick will also be showing in gaming, on his sister Katarina’s horse, a 24-year-old quarter horse named Ellie, who Katarina has been riding for 10 years. “She is my baby,” she says. Kendrick will also be showing Coal, his mother’s grulla quarter horse.
Showing at the 2024 Skagit County Fair
The Blair family loves their time at the Skagit County Fair. When asked what’s her favorite part about fair, Kari can’t decide. “Everything,” she says, “I love fair! I get to spend all my time around lots of horses and I love doing the events.”
“It’s fun!” adds Kendrick. “Getting to spend lots of time with the horses and making friends.”
When she was in 4-H, Katarina shared the same sentiments are her siblings. She loved spending time with her horses and friends who shared the same love as her. “I made so many good friends and so many good memories, just all of us hanging out together,” she adds. “It’s a really cool thing to share a sport with people who you’re friends with and who understand and it’s just a really cool community.”
This year, Katarina won’t be showing, but she will be there to help her siblings and other kids in the Alger Rough Rider 4-H Club. But Katarina isn’t sad, she loves coaching. “I really enjoy getting to coach and help other kids,” she shares. “I always had a lot of people as I was growing up who helped me, so I just like to kind of pay it forward and share all the knowledge that I’ve gained over the last 10 years.”
Anyone who has shown in 4-H knows that Fair week is busy and exhausting, with lots of excitement and fair food thrown in. For Kari, waiting around all day for her events to start in the afternoon is the hardest part. Kendrick says the long days are tough. “Getting up early to exercise the horses and then and having to stay up so late for the end-of-day meeting, before putting the horses to bed,” he shares.
But both them are very glad to have their older sister there to help them. “She helps me with so much …she knows all kinds of little things that really help,” shares Kari.
“11 out of 10 would recommend having a sister like mine there to help!” adds Kendrick.
Katarina is currently in school to be a veterinarian technician and hopes to become a 4-H leader in the future as well. Meet the Blair Family at the Skagit County Fair August 8-11, 2024. You and your child may decide it’s time to join a 4-H Club yourself!
