This Frying Pan Farm weekend park will be full of people, games and exhibits as the Fairfax County 4-H Fair and Carnival returns for the first time since 2019. The event will feature carnival rides, delicious food , Big Truck Night, farm demonstrations, 4-H Expo and more.
“We are very excited. This is our first full fair since Covid, and we usually have about 30,000 people come to our event, so I’m looking for the whole community to come out,” said India Pearson, 4-H agent for Fairfax County. “We want to get as many people outside as we can so that kids in Northern Virginia can really see agriculture first hand.”
The 4-H Fair and Carnival will run through August 7th. The carnival opens at 10am and closes from 8am to 10pm daily. There will be educational community displays and tables open at various points throughout the day. On Aug. 5, Big Truck Night, a display of big trucks like fire trucks and dump trucks, returns from 5 to 7 p.m.
4-H stands for head, heart, hands and health. It is a youth development organization that focuses on teaching life skills in areas such as husbandry, citizenship, creative arts, leadership, healthy living, outdoor education and STEM fields.
“It’s hands-on learning, and we want to make sure we’re empowering kids with skills, leadership and other things, that they need as life skills,” Pearson said.
The 4-H program provides opportunities for students to be paired with adults in various fields and receive work experience in one of the program’s four pillars: agriculture, civic engagement, healthy living or STEM. This fair will showcase the work of children, ages 5 to 19, in the program, as well as expose the public to agriculture, STEM and other achievements by community members in Northern Virginia.
At the fair, there will be educational demonstrations and booths from community organizations, including a naturalist, master gardeners, bird experts and Fairfax County Community and Neighborhood Services, giving people the opportunity to learn more about these community organizations and the natural world. .
4-H students will lead their own demonstrations, showing what they have learned with the program. They will have horse, dog and rabbit shows, and others will lead farm demonstrations such as milking cows and goats.
“Our horses actually won states this year, so they’re going to put on a show,” Pearson said. “The kids can take all that knowledge they’ve been learning throughout the year and apply it to their demonstration.”
A display barn will feature demonstrations by 4-H children and the public on everything from tomatoes to robots. Submissions will be scored and people can win prizes. The carnival portion of the fair will have rides, food and games, including giant yard games like checkers and corn hole.
“This is a practical thing for children. “I like the kids to be at the forefront, so you’re going to see a lot of kids dealing with the personal aspects of it,” Pearson said. “A lot of kids here in Northern Virginia have never seen a real cow. I want them to be able to know that they can get involved in things like this if they are interested, as well as learn about other 4-H activities.
