When 4-H member Claire Sheppard prepared for the Moody County Fair, she made sure to pack her best projects and a little confidence. When it was over, she had some tips to improve, fun memories and a wad of ribbons.
Two of her 10 projects were foods that she baked, taking care to be meticulous at bringing three chocolate chip cookies and three blueberry cream muffins that matched for each of her entries.
“The baking takes a while,” she said. “You have to find three that are uniform and together and that’s pretty difficult to do.”
Sheppard, 12, earned a purple ribbon, the top in 4-H, for her muffins that judge Val Luze said tasted delicious and were uniform. She also suggested that the member of the Happy Youngster’s 4-H club experiment with a lighter colored muffin tin to see if she could get the bottoms of the muffins to be lighter and more in line with the color of the tops.

Sheppard agreed that it was a good tip, something she would try when baking again for the South Dakota State Fair.
Sheppard was one of dozens of Moody County 4-H members who brought 606 exhibits to the fair and filled the livestock barn with show animals.
Katelynn Scherff, 13 of Trent, showed five dairy heifers -- Holstein and one Jersey – earning purple ribbons on all of them and grand champion overall for dairy with her cow named Savannah. She also took home two other grand championship ribbons and a reserve championship in showmanship.
“I think cows are very interesting to work with,” she said. Each has a personality, and she halter breaks and trains them to walk in a show ring. “It can be a lot of work.”
She and her sister, Alexis, 9, work with their cattle about three times a week and belong to the Sodbusters 4-H Club.
In addition to the 4-H activities at the fair, the community got involved with a parade that included more than 60 entries, a pork barbecue that drew nearly 650 people, open class exhibits, toilet bowl races, a community supper and free ice cream.
This year’s parade included floats; politicians; fire departments from Flandreau, Trent and Colman, antique cars and tractors; World War II veterans, and horses.
Winners in the float competition with the theme “County Fair is ______” included the Flandreau FFA for Best Depicting Theme, the VFW for Most Beautiful, the Moody County Historical Society for Most Original, the Flandreau City Band for Best Hitch; Melvin and Doraine Kiecksee for the Best Horse and Rider, the Flandreau Summer Rec cheer group for Best Youth, On Point Chiropractic for Best Vintage Vehicle, The Spot for Most Humorous, Ron Jensen for the Best Vintage Tractor and the Flandreau Swimming Pool for Judges Choice.