Reno NV – June 15, 2026
The Nevada State Fair, Junior Livestock Show & Nevada State 4-H Expo celebrates youth in agriculture & showcases excellence in livestock, leadership, and lifelong skills. It will be held every June at the Nevada State Fairgrounds, this year: June 11 through 14, 2026.
2026 is the first Nevada State Fair since 2010 (when it had dissolved due to budget issues). This year was the first time ever to combine the Nevada State Fair, Nevada Junior Livestock show and the 4-H expo together!
From livestock judging and showmanship to educational exhibits and round robin competition, three young Mason Valley competitors demonstrated the dedication, knowledge, and determination that define Nevada’s next generation of agricultural leaders.
Cheryl Dunkle is the author, photographer (and mother!) of this article highlighting the accomplishments of 3 outstanding young competitors -Ainsley, Adler & Aksel – from Yerington, Nevada at this year’s Nevada State Fair:
We survived our first Nevada State Fair/ Nevada Junior Livestock Showand Nevada State 4-H Expo!
June 10, 2026 – Day 1: Ainsley and Adler left first thing in the morning and headed off to participate in Livestock Judging. After that, we went through a very chaotic process of checking in animals, our travel trailer and our static entries. There were several snafus with paperwork, but in the end everything worked itself out.
June 11, 2026 – Day 2: The morning started with static entry judging and the 4-H expo poultry breeding quality show. That was immediately followed by 4-H poultry showmanship. Ainsley and Adler were the only ones participating in poultry at this show. I did not see the option to sign up the clover buds.
They both did well. Ainsley won Champion and Reserve Champion American class with her Silver Penciled Rocks. Adler won Champion and Reserve Champion Continental with his Black Copper Marans. Adler won 4th place intermediate poultry showmanship. Ainsley won 4th place junior poultry showmanship.
For static entries Ainsley got a blue award for her lego giraffe, her model library, and two red awards for her educational exhibits titled “ornate box turtle husbandry” and “chicken feathers”. She also received best junior Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics STEM for her model library.
Adler received blue awards for his Hogwarts express Lego train and his Lego butterfly. He got a blue award for his honey. He also got a red award for his educational exhibit titled “poultry show preparation”. Finally he got a blue award for his educational booth “A bee keeping season” which included his observation hive. Then he received Best Intermediate Educational exhibit for his bee booth.
In Livestock judging, Ainsley placed second high junior individual, and second junior reasons. She also received Champion Junior Judging Team.
Click on a photo to enlarge and scroll:
June 12, 2026 – Day 3: On Friday, we started showing at 8 a.m. and were not done until 5:30 pm. It was a VERY busy day!
It started with the Dairy goat breed show. Ainsley showed Connie, Cruella, Karen and Sirius. Connie won 2nd place intermediate doeling. Cruella won 4th place dry yearling. Karen won 2nd place dry yearling. Sirius won 2nd place yearling buck.
That was followed immediately by the Market Turkey show. In fact, they had to wait for Ainsley to get out of the ring with her goats to join the kids with her turkey. The judge picked the top turkeys and the order for the sale. Adler got 7th place and Ainsley got 9th place turkey.
Then we had a short lunch break and went right into Herpetology check-in and Dairy goat showmanship. Adler assisted with checking in Ainsley’s turtle while she was in the ring.
Ainsley did very well. She was the only junior in her class, however the judge made some really nice comments about her knowledge and her showing; and said it was a well deserved 1st place. She has been working hard to improve, and she is seeing those results. With her first place, she qualified for the Nevada Junior Livestock Show NJLS round robin.
After that they completed the quality show for herpetology and went right into herpetology showmanship. Ainsley did very well and got 1st place junior showman. Her turtle got Grand Champion Testudine. Then she won Reserve Champion Reptile of the Herpetology show. Adler won Second place Junior showman and his two bearded dragons (which were both shedding for this show which knocks you down points) got blue awards.
Finally it was time for Turkey showmanship. Ainsley got 3rd place junior showman and Adler got 2nd place intermediate showman.
We found out later that Adler’s 2nd place qualified him for the NJLS round robin, but we were unaware of that until after it was over. And he got called up as the runner up for the 4-H expo herpetology round robin when the first place winner dropped his spot in favor of another species. So he was called into the round robin at 7:30 Saturday morning. Meanwhile because Ainsley qualified for both, she had to pick one. She chose 4-H Expo round robin where she and Adler both showed Horses (written), cavies (written), Rabbits, Dogs, Poultry and Herpetology. They do not release placements for round robin unless you win.
At the end of the day were the fun events including the ice cream social and the pee wee showmanship. I though it was very cool that they made a huge deal out of the pee wee showmanship. The arena was full of parents and siblings watching all the little guys with their animals. Aksel was so cute showing Connie! It was his first opportunity of the day to show for himself. Because earlier we had asked him to dress to show Ainsley’s extra goats. He even jumped in to give an extra hand to some other kids as well. So he is getting a lot of practice in the ring.
June 13, 2026 – Day 4: Round robin and sale day!
Some of us were hoping to sleep in on Saturday, but no such luck. I got a call early in the morning asking me to have Adler ready for the 4-H expo round robin. They also wanted his lizard, but it was not going to make it in time. So they found a snake instead. Kelly (the turtle) slept in our trailer overnight so she could also participate with Ainsley in the round robin. We also loaned Cruella to the dairy goat station for NJLS.
While our kids were going through their stations, we checked on all the animals and watched the other kids run through the dairy goat station to see how they would do with Cruella. Sadly, I missed all the stations that chose Cruella, but I did enjoy watching the kids try and work with the goats when they may not usually show them.
Finally, on the last day they judged the NJLS static entries. Adler got 1st place for his comparison of the growth rates of broad breasted bronze turkeys and broad breasted white turkeys. Ainsley got 2nd place for her board on the breeds of the American Dairy Goat Association ADGA registry.
After they were done we encouraged the kids to work on their sales. So Ainsley and Adler went around to the vendors and tried to sell their turkeys. Ainsley probably talked to every adult she met for about 4 hours straight. She talked to anyone who walked by her turkey pen or static entries. She managed to get 3 add-ons, got an opening bid of $300 for her bird and sold 3 or 4 of our frozen turkeys. I am so proud of her! She hustled her butt off!
That evening was awards which was followed by the sale of champions and then the auction. At the awards they got results for livestock judging and the round robin. Sadly, they did not win round robin and we do not know placements. Since they were not top 5 they did not make it to the sale of champions. And the turkeys were scheduled last in the line up. So they had to hang out til the end of the auction. We managed to get their birds lined up and they both picked up their birds in the ring.
After that, we loaded everyone up and cleaned up before going to bed around midnight. We drove home first thing this morning.
Overall, despite lots of snags and random issues, it was a great show! We felt very safe thanks to the large amount of security and law enforcement on site. Now that we’ve done this show, I will know what to expect in the future. These things are always exhausting and it’s a complete marathon when it’s 4 days long. Emotions run high in both the kids and the parents. It was great to see all of our friends! We love showing along side all of you! Hopefully I was not too much of a pain this weekend.
The Nevada State Fair and 4-H Expo provided an unforgettable experience for Ainsley, Adler, and Aksel, whose hard work, dedication, and enthusiasm made Yerington proud while showcasing the bright future of Nevada agriculture. Thank you to Cheryl Dunkle for a fine article and for being (along with your spouse & the grandparents) the wind beneath your children’s wings! -PSTimes
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