4-H a traditional part of the Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair: The Cassaday family
A North Fort Myers Neighbor Living magazine feature
For one Cape Coral family, 4-H is a family affair as the mother is a leader of one of the clubs, and her three children are involved.
BobbiJo Cassaday said she is the leader of Free Range 4-H Club, which meets on the second Saturday of every month with 13 kids.
“All of our kids do rabbits and two show chickens,” she said of their projects.
BobbiJo said she really enjoys the community service aspect of 4-H.
“I like teaching my kids to pay it forward. Hopefully, they grow up and pay it forward and learn from it,” she said.
Hailey Cassaday, 17, said she got involved in 4-H as quite a few of her family members showed livestock at the fair.
The animal of choice for her project is rabbits, as she has shown many in the past years. She shows three different breeds, Tans, Polish and Holland Lops.
Hailey said tans are a running breed and more energetic, while Polish are very calm and loving. She said the Holland Lop are very calm and sweet and are “just cute,” as they have so much fur, chubby with floppy ears.
“I currently have two Polish, three Tan and four Holland Lop,” Hailey said. “I have nine rabbits that stay with me and eight babies. I have my mind set on one that I want to keep.”
When it’s time to show them at the fair, she said she checks them in and they pretty much stay in their cage unless she is working with them, grooming them or trimming their nails. Hailey said she also participates in the booths where the community can ask questions about the rabbits.
“I have gained confidence,” Hailey said of talking with people. “I do enjoy teaching people what I know.”
She has also taught showmanship clinics, which she earned volunteer hours.
“4-H is not always about the animals. It’s a lot about volunteering for the community. We do a lot of competitions that don’t include the animals,” Hailey said.
She has enjoyed every minute of 4-H over the years, as it has helped her choose a career path to pursue. Hailey plans on becoming a veterinarian and is currently part of the veterinarian assistant program at Mariner High School where she is a junior.
Cole Michael, 13, an 8th grade student at Mariner Middle School, also shows rabbits at the fair, Jack, a Polish rabbit.
“I love my rabbit. This is my last year showing him. He is kind of old, but he still looks good,” he said.
Jack is a very calm rabbit, Cole Michael said.
“He lets you do stuff with him. As he got older he did get better at being cooperative,” he explained.
Over the years, Cole Michael has won awards at the fair, such as Best Breed, which made him feel really excited.
“I did good with Jack. Jack did good,” he said. “I was more excited because he got Best Breed. It made me feel like I accomplished something with raising a rabbit.”
When getting Jack ready for the fair, Cole Michael said he likes to wear him out as much as he can and then sit him out about 30 minutes before he shows him.
In addition to the fair, he said he also enjoys the cookoffs, as one year he went to state, held at the University of Florida. He decided to grill steak, as his mom and dad cook steak “and they do awesome.” Cole Michael won first place with the county, earning $400, which took him on to the next level.
Britteny, 16, Mariner High School sophomore, said this is the first year she is showing a rabbit, as in years past she has shown guinea pigs. She is showing Jill, a Polish rabbit that is a broken chocolate color.
“When she is not with her babies, I take her out when I am done with my homework and pose her, so she is calm with me,” she said of how she gets Jill ready for the fair.
In addition to animals, she has also done some sewing for the fair. She made a cow dress using an old pair of her dad’s jean shorts as a top and a red bandana for the bottom half of the dress.
“It is a little stressful because the sewing machine messes up,” Britteny said.
With that said, she said she enjoys creating because she gets to make things that she is drawing out on a sheet of paper.
“I learned a lot,” she said about being involved with 4-H. “Responsibility, respect, standing in front of people speaking. I like to step out of the comfort zone to see what I am good at and not good at. I also get to teach younger kids what they are doing.”
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