LLOYDMINSTER, Sask. – Cattle and horses rule the 4-H roost but multiple clubs are becoming increasingly popular as the program reaches out to new members.
Brothers Donovan and Nicholas Allen of the Senlac, Sask., Multiple Club juggled cowboy poetry, photography and outdoor projects this season.
Their achievements, along with a potpourri of others ranging from archery to sewing to welding, were mounted on poster boards at the 4-H Expo in Lloydminster May 31 – June 2. The expo, which included 18 clubs and 400 4-Hers, also featured a light horse gymkhana and fed calf show and sale.
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The Allens were interested in cowboy poetry because of its association with the rural lifestyle and the way life used to be.
“It’s about making something you want to write about and having fun,” Nicholas said.
“When you hear it rhyme, it gives you joy. It’s just fun to do,” said Donovan.
The tradition of oral storytelling began during a time when many could not read and write, so much of the text is slang and informal.
Both enjoyed working out rhyming verses, even revising as many as 50 times, and creating an original poem, which they recited at an evening banquet held at the Lloydminster Agricultural Exhibition site.
A 4-H manual and their leader John Lock guided them through the project, which included learning about the western storytelling art, rhyming patterns, reading selections from cowboy poets like Baxter Black and watching old westerns on television.
Lock said the project examines the western lifestyle, landscapes of the American West, cowboy values and practices.
“It’s memories of times and people long ago,” he said.
Lock, who oversees a host of different projects in the club, said the manuals make introducing new projects easier for leaders.
“They take you through step by step,” he said.
Accessing such projects is possible because provincial 4-H groups share resources, said Mary-Ann Carson, a member of the Lloydminster Exhibition committee and a leader with the Maidstone Gully Multiple Club.
“If we can share with other organizations, it only makes sense. There’s no sense in reinventing the wheel,” she said.
Carson said cowboy poetry may appeal to those who live in town but are rooted in a rural community and still linked to farms through family. Multiple clubs and open projects in 4-H make the program accessible to a broader population, she said.
She cited increases in aboriginal 4-H members and their projects focusing on native traditions.
Carson also noted the interest seen in archery and the increased number of 4-H sponsored shooting events.
