Now 28, Bowen has headed up the board for nearly a decade, having won election to the board as a teenager.

The county fair offers young people a chance to shine and highlights the hard work they put in all year, raising and caring for animals and preparing for shows while learning skills that help them become leaders, Bowen said.

For a time, youth participation at the fair was down and barn enclosures were empty as participants aged out and few new young people replaced them, Bowen said.

This year, a new generation — some of them children of former 4-H-ers — has re-enlivened the fair, and barns are full again, he said.

News Photo by Julie Riddle 4-H participant Hunter Ballor shows her rabbit to a young fairgoer at the Alpena County Fair on Wednesday.

Fresh from earning a ribbon at a rabbit show at the fair on Wednesday, Hunter Ballor, 18, said showing rabbits, birds, goats, and other animals for the past handful of years has built her confidence and prepared her for a hoped-for future as a veterinarian.

Armed with life skills learned at the fair, young people have what it takes to lead, Ballor said.

“Just give us a chance,” she said.

Now-president Bowen first showed an animal during the kiddie show at age 3 or 4.

He showed a duck that first year, “and I hate birds now,” Bowen said on Wednesday morning.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Fresh from a win at a rabbit show, Hunter Ballor, 18, left, holds lionhead rabbit Moose while Alison Borowski, 16, holds Copper, a New Zealand red rabbit, at the Alpena County Fairgrounds on Wednesday.

In the years that followed, he showed “calves and steers and pigs and rabbits and all that,” his fair involvement a continuation of a family legacy that included his mom, aunts and uncles, and a wide range of cousins, some of whom now work with him in fair leadership.

The county fair is a family affair, generations of 4-H-ers growing up showing animals and then bringing their own children to stand before judges, Bowen said.

In 4-H, at the fair and at other events, he learned how to speak to strangers and groups with confidence, talking to judges, buyers, and other fair visitors.

From Future Farmers of America, which prepares young people for leadership in agriculture-related careers, he learned Robert’s Rules of Order, knowledge he needed as fellow board members nominated him for the board presidency at age 19.

Had he not had those early days of practicing confidence and leadership in the county fair show ring, Bowen said, he would never have had the courage to step into a leadership position, especially on a board then mostly made up of 50-somethings.

With a phone ringing and buzzing all day long during fair month — and preparations for the next year’s fair keeping him busy all year — Bowen said nobody is beating down the fair door to get onto the board.

“The pay’s not good,” he said. “It’s free.”

But, Bowen said, he does it because he wants other kids to have the same chance he did to learn, to grow, and to shine.

At a rabbit show on Wednesday morning, Ballor and friend Alison Borowski hugged after judges announced them grand champion and reserve grand champion, respectively, in the senior rabbit showmanship class.

Both girls said fair involvement has taught them responsibility and discipline. Those skills, like showmanship and animal care techniques, the girls can pass along to the next generation of young 4-H participants just getting started with fair involvement.

Fair-learned skills even translate to school, where lessons learned from animal care help students avoid procrastinating on projects and focus on their school work “day by day, step by step,” Borowski said.

From the outside, young people’s involvement at the county fair may look like nothing more than kids playing with animals, she said.

The ribbons young competitors take home are only the tip of the iceberg of what those young people do to participate in the fair, Borowski said.

“They don’t see the hours you spend with your animals, the feedings, the early mornings, the late nights,” she said. “They don’t see the backbone of what it takes.”

Animal shows continue at the fair this morning with a small animal sweepstakes at 9 a.m. and, at 11 a.m., a speed horse show.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.