The 100th Anniversary of The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair takes place this week, November 4-13, at Exhibition Place in Toronto. Why is this exciting news for us? There is a team of youth from our area that will be representing their 4H clubs. This year’s team members were selected based on their former showings and results, and were selected by the county as the best showperson and partnered with the best calves to represent the club. The 2022 Grenville TD Classic Dairy Team includes Isobela Brown with her calf Jade Ashlee Contender, Bentley Sloan with his very own Bentviewhaven Achieve, Abigail Smail with Lolan Unix Marigold, Kerryanna Manneck with calf Kirlea Rocky Ashes, Kaylee Parsons with Kirlea Big Admire and Cameron Stewart as Herdsman. These youth will be among 300 others from across Canada.
Cameron Stewart is currently a grade twelve student and has future plans to be involved in agriculture and trades. He is also an accomplished Grenville County member who has competed in a multitude of clubs. He brings to the team some excellent skill sets, work ethic and the best dedication any member possibly could have. He was selected as a Herdsperson for these credentials, as well as his responsible and reliable nature. Cameron has been showing dairy since he started as a Cloverbud and says: “I am very excited to have this opportunity, it has been something I have been wanting to do since I started 4-H and with any luck, plus lots of hard work, I hope to be there showing next year!”
Abigail Smail is 16 years old and has been enthusiastic about 4H since she began in Cloverbuds where she practiced with a special red and white calf named Cherry Blossom. She spent a lot of time walking and training that calf, dreaming of one day attending the Royal. When she wasn’t training calves, she was watching videos on YouTube of the TD Classic hoping to make it there. Fast forward 10 years later and here is this farm girl living out one of her dreams…heading for Toronto.
Senior teammate Isobela (Bella) Brown. This is her second year showing and is well composed and accomplished in the show ring. Though she is relatively new to the Dairy club, she has been a longstanding Member of Grenville 4H in a variety of clubs.
Bella says: “It’s an amazing opportunity to showcase my skills with the best of the best in the country and share our knowledge and experience with each other.” She also continues to encourage everyone to take part if they get a chance.
Kerryanna Manneck is a Junior Show person who has participated in a broad range of livestock competitions and numerous disciplines. She has been the proud owner of livestock that interests her since a young age, including owning and exhibiting her own purebred Holsteins under her junior prefix Longshot. Kerryanna’s future goals include going abroad for equine studies. “I’ve been in 4-H for 5 years, and it has been a goal of mine to be able to have the opportunity to show in the TD Classic”, she says.
Kaylee Parsons is 15 and started showing at age 3. She has always loved cows and the cattle business and started working as a farmhand roughly a year and a half ago. Since she started 4-H, she has been pushed to shine and do well in the ring, and the ribbons she has on her wall proves she works hard for what she wants. When she was 9, she found out about the Royal and that has been a goal of hers ever since. She will be going with a few of her friends to represent the Grenville Dairy team this year and is beyond excited for this opportunity.
