In Custer County Nebraska, 4-H is a big deal. Many youth in our rural communities belong to a 4-H club, regardless of whether or not they currently or have ever lived on a farm.

While 4-H clubs did initially develop out of a desire to incorporate youth and agriculture, the organization has evolved a lot since those early years. According to the National 4-H Council, A. B. Graham started a youth program in Clark County, Ohio, in 1902, which is considered the birth of 4‑H in the United States. The first club was called “The Tomato Club” or the “Corn Growing Club”. T.A. Erickson of Douglas County, Minnesota, started local agricultural after-school clubs and fairs that same year. Jessie Field Shambaugh developed the clover pin with an H on each leaf in 1910, and by 1912 they were called 4‑H clubs.

Even most of our state’s smallest communities have an active 4-H Club. For many years in Callaway that has been Tail Twisters, and in Arnold it has been Western Riders. This year those clubs have combined to form South Loup 4-H Club.

Karla Pandorf, who has served as leader for Tail Twisters for the past several years, explained that Carolyn Peterson came up with the Tail Twisters name back in 1977, for a club she was

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“Back in 2002 there were actually three clubs in Callaway and they wanted to merge into one. Kanda Kleinknecht was the leader at that time and the suggestion was made to use the Tail Twisters name. There is still a Tail Twisters in Dawson County as well,” said Pandorf.

Pandorf said that other leaders along with Peterson and Kleinknecht in Callaway have been Sue Glendy and Brenda Still. Steph Ross, daughter of Peterson, took over in 2013 and she served as leader until Pandorf and Jen Dalrymple took over.

“We had big shoes to fill,” said Pandorf. “With Jen living in the Arnold community and our South Loup kids already doing things together it just made sense to join forces to bring our two clubs together. We already shared a lot of responsibilities with the two and helped each other out with horses, beef, and shooting sports already so it just made sense to join together to allow our leaders to be more efficient with their time.”

Holly Remund shared that Western Riders was formed back in 1990-91 and was predominantly a horse club when it originated. She said the club also did a lot of shooting sports and dog sports. Remund became the leader of Western Riders in 2010.

“At that time we had a lot of kids shooting and doing horses in Western Riders, then showing cattle in Tail Twisters, so we had a lot of cross over from the get-go,” Remund explained.

“That was even happening prior to the South Loup Bobcats being created, so we were kind of the original co-op,” she laughed.

Remund explained that the way 4-H works is kids can have a primary club that they do all of their regular business in and their membership is in, and they can have a secondary club. “They can have as many as they want. So if a kid wants one club for shooting sports, one for beef, and one for horses you can see how that gets kind of complicated for leaders and parents,” Remund continued.

She said as the sports co-op developed the cohesion between the kids in the two communities became more evident as well. “We were doing a lot of duplication that we didn’t need to and these kids were already doing a lot of things together anyway, so it just made sense with the 4-H clubs as well. I think it’s been very effective for the kids, and for us as leaders it has made life a lot easier.”

Once the decision to merge the clubs was made, the leaders worked together to figure out what that would look like logistically for families in both communities. “It was important to me as a mother of high schoolers that we tried to maintain equality among both clubs, kind of like they did when they were trying to develop the sports co-op, and that we did our best to make sure there was equal representation throughout both communities,” Remund shared.

The most fair way they could come up with to accomplish that was to take turns; one month the meeting is held in Arnold, the next month in Callaway. The club has dual presidents – one from each community, and they try to do an equal number of volunteer projects in both communities.

“So if the kids are doing eight community projects in a year they make sure they are doing four in one community and four in the other,” she added. “They also try to make sure those projects are similar. For example, if they are doing a cemetery in the Arnold area they also make sure to do a cemetery in the Callaway area.”

The club also does volunteer projects for the two locations where their monthly meetings are held – the Callaway Senior Center, and the Arnold Methodist Church. “The kids are really good about making sure it stays fair and equitable for everybody,” Remund said. “Ironically, we had over 50 members in Arnold and Callaway also had over 50 members, but when we joined as one club we have 65 members. That’s how much duplication we had between the clubs, so imagine how much efficiency has been created. We had families going to both meetings, and this has made a big difference for us.”

Tail Twisters and Western Riders operated together for a “trial year” in 2023, after talking about a merger for about a year and a half. Once everything was ironed out they elected to make it a permanent change in 2024, along with the name change.

All 4-H clubs have their own tax ID number, so changing the name of the now merged club had some paperwork and steps involved. “Colleen (Peterson) was wonderful help for us with that,” said Remund. “So we have now been able to get everything changed to South Loup 4-H.”

The highlight for the 4-H kids each year is the county fair, and the South Loup 4-H kids have been spending the last few months preparing for their upcoming shows and contests.

“We have so many different interests from our kids, so there is a lot involved with that,” said Pandorf. “We have practices on a weekly basis in some of the activities, like horses, dogs, and shooting sports. We have kids in so many different areas, and they are spending these last few weeks finishing up their projects and making sure everything is just right.”

Pandorf said another thing that has been keeping them busy is changing all of the signage and reidentifying everything with the new club name. “All of the species have signs in the buildings, so there is a lot,” she said.

Helping club leaders Pandorf, Remund and Dalrymple are Mike and Ann Lehmkuhler in shooting sports, Heidi Kulp and Heather Hagler with dogs and Heidi with poultry, Lynn Anderson Phelps with horses, and Sarah and Aaron Coleman with shooting sports and other activities.

“It’s just all about the kids, and we commend them for all the hard work they put in,” added Pandorf. “We are just trying to prepare them to be future leaders for our communities. I just think it is so important for the kids to have these handson experiences and to be able to communicate with our community leaders to be future leaders themselves.”

“There are a lot of activities that you do that you have coaches and teammates, but what I love about 4-H is that your team is your family. It’s their brothers and sisters, parents, aunts and uncles – it's not just one coach,” Remund shared. “And it happens from 5 a.m. at the kids’ houses until the middle of the night sometimes. I like sports, and play production and speech, and those things, but I just like the formula of 4-H and how it involves the family so much more.”

Pandorf emphasized how much the club appreciates the support they have received from both communities.

As has been the tradition in past years, the style and clothing construction judging is kicking off the fair today, and the public fashion show will be held at 7:00 this evening at the Evangelical Free Church in Broken Bow. This year the dog show has been moved up and that event will be held this Saturday, July 20, at 8 a.m. at the Custer County Fairgrounds.

After a full schedule of activities, the fair will conclude on Thursday, Aug. 1, with the annual 4-H and FFA livestock sale.