At the annual Junior Livestock Sale, kids and their livestock will be in the limelight — as they should be. But quietly behind the scenes, volunteers work countless hours throughout the year to make the sale possible.

“They’re really the unsung heroes of this deal,” said Joe Bridges, chairman of the Park County Junior Livestock Sale Committee. “It doesn’t happen without their involvement and dedication that they have to these kids.”

Jennifer Triplett serves as secretary and JuneAnn Nelson is the treasurer. This marks Nelson’s final year in the position, and Andrea Mehling has been training with her so she’s ready to take the reins as treasurer.

“There’s no way to really keep track of how much time and effort and sweat and tears and blood and whatever else happens along the way that those three put into this,” Bridges said. “... The kids will never know. And the neat thing about it is, none of them want the kids to know. They’re doing it for the good.”

He said he “can’t give them enough kudos for what they do.”

“I tell people all the time I make lots of promises and they’re the ones that have to fulfill it,” Bridges said.

The volunteers are also quick to point out that it’s an entire group of people working together, from folks helping at the sale to others working with youth throughout the year.

“The FFA advisers and the 4-H leaders, the extension office and the people that work at the fair office,” Triplett said. “There are so many people that all come together, and it’s always heartwarming for me.”

Each of the committee officers has watched their own children participate in 4-H and FFA over the years, and they believe youth learn valuable lessons through the organizations.

“It’s the life lessons — to be responsible for something,” Nelson said. “Just to have pride in that, whatever it is that they’re doing.”

Triplett said kids learn responsibility, presentation skills, independent teamwork by being part of a club and how to do an interview.

“It’s 4-H and FFA in general — it doesn’t matter if it’s a welding project or if it’s a cooking project or whatever it is,” Triplett said. “Those are invaluable life skills that you’re not going to get anywhere else.”

Caring for animals requires hard work and dedication for many months leading up to the fair.

“These aren’t easy projects,” said Nelson. “Most of these kids put a lot of time and effort into these animals.”

For beef kids, their projects begin in October, Triplett said.

“By the time they come to fair, they’ve been at it a long time,” she said.

Triplett knows firsthand the hard work involved with projects, as she grew up in 4-H and FFA.

“I think it’s important to give back,” she said. “Somebody obviously volunteered their time when I was young, or else we wouldn’t have had the program we had, so if I can donate my time, then it’s a good way for me to give back.”

Just like 4-H and FFA youth, committee members’ work spans months throughout the year.

“I have a little bit of work to do every month, simply because you know, you have to make sure the bank accounts are right,” said Nelson.

In January, steers are tagged, then hogs, goats and lambs follow in May and rabbits in June. July is a busy month setting up the sale, especially this year with the addition of an online component.

Work doesn’t wrap up quickly after the fair.

“Basically from sale day till probably the end of September, mid-October, I kind of work on the sale every day,” Nelson said.

That includes checking with the processing plants to make sure animals were dropped off, because kids don’t get their checks until animals are delivered to the buyer.

“So we have to track all those animals so we have to know where they are,” Nelson said. “And then once the buyer has paid and the animal has been delivered, then we release payments to the kids.”

A total of 240 youth sold their livestock at last year’s record-setting sale, which brought in $414,528.

All proceeds are paid out to the individual youth.

“None of us get paid,” Nelson said. “There’s absolutely no compensation for us. We do it for the kids. Period.”

‘We come together’

While there’s been a lot of uncertainty in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Mehling said she’s thankful that from the get-go, Bridges said there would be a Junior Livestock Sale.

“He’ll probably never admit it, but he’s put in a ton of time to make sure that the sale would happen, so I think that’s pretty neat,” she said.

Bridges puts a lot of time and effort in outside of sale day, she said, “but he’ll probably never own up to that.”

Indeed, Bridges is quick to point to others’ involvement and volunteer efforts rather than his own.

This is his 16th or 17th year leading the sale as chairman, taking over from Russ Boardman.

“A great mentor of mine ran this sale before me, somebody that I looked up to ever since I was a kid,” Bridges said. “He came to me and he trusted me with the sale.”

Bridges said he learned a lot from Boardman and thinks highly of him.

“And so the drive that I have is to keep going forward with something that he started,” Bridges said.

He called it a responsibility he doesn’t take lightly.

“One thing that he instilled upon me is, no matter what decision you make, as long as you’re making it for the good of a kid, you’re making the right choice,” Bridges said.

He said he’s a “huge supporter of FFA and 4-H.”

“I grew up in this system — this is what we do as a family and so it’s in your blood, it’s something that you look forward to every year,” Bridges said.

This year marks a new chapter, as his own children have grown and are no longer showing livestock at the fair.

Nelson and Triplett also no longer have children showing at the fair, but they’ve continued to stay involved, believing in the programs.

As a parent, Mehling has been going to the sales for about 10 years as her sons have shown and sold livestock. She said she is so grateful for the buyers and people involved with the sale.

Being on the committee has given her a new perspective and appreciation for all the work involved outside of the sale day.

“I’m very, very new to helping, so I haven’t put in anywhere near the time or the years that everyone else has,” Mehling said. “But in my short amount of time, I’ve gained a whole new appreciation for what it takes to make that sale happen for the kids.”

Mehling volunteered to serve on the committee because she believes 4-H and FFA are great programs, and her sons have benefited from their involvement.

“I’ve been in the stands for so many years, and I thought it was my turn to give back and help out,” she said.

In her years of involvement, Triplett said memories that stand out are times the community has come together to support a family going through a tragedy or difficulty.

“It doesn’t matter who the family is,” she said. “Our community stands up and we come together.”

The community’s involvement and support for the sale spans the county, Triplett said. A family on the South Fork drives 55 miles one-way to the fairgrounds in Powell, while another from Meeteetse is about 62 miles away, she said.

“The commitment that our area has to making this all come together is huge,” Triplett said. “I just think it’s important that people understand that, hey, some of these kids aren’t just walking out the door and jumping in the car. It’s more than that.”

Just as youth come from around the county, so do buyers and supporters of the Junior Livestock Sale.

While 2020 has brought hardships and buyers may not be able to support youth at the level of previous years, Bridges said he knows the kids are still going to be taken care of.

“Because that’s what kind of community we live in,” he said.