The Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo is celebrating its fifth year at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex from Friday through Sunday, July 25 to 27.
“This is the big show,” Cassandra Rankin, Kenai Peninsula 4-H program coordinator, said Saturday at the expo. “Our 4-Hers work all year long on their projects. Many of them are raising these animals for months, sometimes over a year.”
While the ag expo exhibits many things, one of those things is an immense amount of volunteer investment in the community.
Rankin said her position is paid, and there also is an administrative generalist who works half time for 4-H and half time for University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension. 4-H is a leg of the Cooperative Extension.
“The rest of all of our programs are completely served, poured out on our kids, brought to our community, all by volunteer power,” Rankin said.
She said the Kenai Peninsula District has 10 4-H Clubs, each led by two volunteers. Total enrollment in all the clubs each year is about 100 members.
Putting on the ag expo then takes seven teams of 24 volunteers each.
“I’m very proud of the hard work of our volunteers,” Rankin said. “The blood, sweat and tears they put into these youth just tells me, year after year, how worthwhile what these kids are doing is.”
Rankin, who has been involved in 4-H for about 15 years and in her current position since 2017, said the pandemic spurred the move to Soldotna, which has allowed the expo to become a part of Soldotna Progress Days festivities. The expo used to be at the Kenai Peninsula Fair in Ninilchik.
“We enjoy a long history and heritage with the fair,” Rankin said. “During our COVID year, the fair was closed and the auction was going to be in a digital format.”
She said one of the 4-Hers had the idea of a drive-in auction and the Kenai Peninsula District became the only 4-H Club in the country to use that format. The drive-in happened at the Soldotna Rodeo Grounds.
“Once our youth and volunteers saw how successful it was and what our impact and potential impact could be for agriculture in Soldotna, everybody wanted to stay here,” Rankin said.
A big part of 4-H is raising animals to be judged, auctioned off and processed for food. Rankin said 44 4-Hers participated in the Junior Market Livestock Auction on Saturday, meaning there were plenty of other projects that didn’t involve raising an animal.
The annual expo also includes exhibits ranging from photography to sewing to STEM, Rankin said.
She said all projects are valuable.
“It builds their confidence. It builds their leadership,” Rankin said. “I’ve seen kids go from being afraid to speak publicly to being some of the best public speakers I’ve seen.”
She’s seen those youth go on to success in business, leadership and even come back to volunteer for 4-H.
“When you talk specifically about agriculture, there’s a huge value in that,” Rankin said. “Especially here in Alaska, where we’re kind of removed from the food chain.”
Palmer’s Rayne Reynolds served as the auctioneer for the Junior Market Livestock Auction for the ninth time, including all five in Soldotna.
He said it’s not hard to keep coming back.
“I love the little kids, where it’s their first year, and they’re 8 or 9 years old, and they come into the auction ring and just the look on their face of accomplishment,” he said. “All their hard work is coming down to this one moment.”
Reynolds then loves watching those kids grow over the years, saying 4-H is not about kids raising livestock, but is about a vehicle for raising kids.
He said public speaking, marketing, accounting, keeping records and salesmanship are all part of bringing an animal to auction.
“I don’t think there’s a better program out there that allows youth to have the responsibility to where they have to care for a living thing, then at the end of the project, they’re producing protein,” he said. “That project is going off to be processed, and then there’s that whole part that they have to deal with.”
The auction started with the auction of the Community Service Turkey, raised by Xiling Tanner. The turkey went for $500, with $290 in community add-ons. That money went to the Kenai Local Food Connection.
The rest of the auction money went back to the 4-Her who had raised the animal.
The big ticket item was the Overall Grand Champion Beef raised by Jacob Merritt. At 1,117 pounds, it went for $8,800, with $540 in community add-ons.
The steer was named Ronnie Coleman, after the legendary body builder
“I have learned a lot about hard work, dedication and showing up even when it’s early, cold and Ronnie Coleman’s feeling stubborn,” wrote Merritt in a statement read before the animal was auctioned.
Rankin said the judging process is valuable, but it also doesn’t detract from the hard work every member does to raise animals.
“All the kids are grand champions to me,” she said.
Skye Glessing, 15, of Funny River raised a Reserve Champion Market Steer at 1,326 pounds.
She’s been in the program for eight years and this is her third steer.
“I absolutely love the animals,” she said. “This is one of my favorite parts of it — the auction.”
Glessing said being in the program has helped her with sportsmanship and helping other people, and also taught her a lot about responsibility.
“It’s a full-time job,” she said. “I spend a lot of time making sure my animals are clean. It’s helped me grow.”
The ag expo continues Sunday with a petting zoo from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., celebrity showmanship from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Ag Olympics from 2 to 3 p.m. and a community class from 2 to 3 p.m.
This year’s expo horse events will be Friday and Saturday, Aug. 1 and 2, at the Soldotna Rodeo Grounds.
To learn more about 4-H, look at “Kenai Peninsula District 4-H” on Facebook. Or look on the web at uaf.edu/kp4h or email Rankin at crankin4@alaska.edu.
Ian Chihuly displays the Grand Champion Market Turkey at the Junior Market Livestock Auction at the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo on Saturday, July 27, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Rene Chihuly, Sven Glessing and Enoch Wheeler display Grand Champion Market Pen Chickens, cheered on by fellow 4-Hers, at the Junior Market Livestock Auction at the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo on Saturday, July 27, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. Glessing raised the animals. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Katee Knowlton displays the Grand Champion Market Goat at the Junior Market Livestock Auction at the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo on Saturday, July 27, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Jacob Merritt displays the Overall Grand Champion Beef at the Junior Market Livestock Auction at the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo on Saturday, July 27, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Paxton Katzenberger, left, displays his Reserve Champion Market Lamb while Benjamin Merritt holds the animal at the Junior Market Livestock Auction at the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo on Saturday, July 27, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Isaiah Wheeler, Wolf Reichard and Sven Glessing draw a bid on Grand Champion Meat Pen Rabbits at the Junior Market Livestock Auction at the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo on Saturday, July 27, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. Reichard raised the animals. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Samuel Merritt displays the Overall Grand Champion Market Hog at the Junior Market Livestock Auction at the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo on Saturday, July 27, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Xiling Tanner displays his Community Service Turkey at the Junior Market Livestock Auction at the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo on Saturday, July 27, 2025, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
