By Jolene FarleyWith the Rock County Fair starting next week, 4-H families are putting the finishing touches on their entries. Meanwhile behind the scenes, Extension officials are working to organize the 1,289 exhibits at this year’s fair. Preparation for the Rock County Fair began several months ahead of time for 4-H Program Coordinator Nancy Sandager and Extension Office Manager Deb DenHerder. This year, they have the help of summer interns Kristi Oeding and Jessica Boersma. The Rock County Fair Board also helps.Finding judgesFirst on the "to do" list for the fair is recruiting judges for the exhibits. Sandager and DenHerder recruit on average 10 livestock judges each year, 16 non-livestock judges for 4-H entries and eight open class judges. "We try to line the judges up early, based on what we had the year before," Sandager said. For some of entry classes, the judges must be accredited. For all classes, judges are required to have training. "Generally, judges are supposed to have attended a judges training in the last five years," she said. Each judge usually ends up judging about 30 entries, according to Sandager.OrganizingAlso early in the spring the Rock County Fair Board meets with Sandager to start planning the fair. Sandager meets with the food stand and livestock committees as well."There are a lot of planning-type meetings based on what’s changed this year from other years," she said. Entrants start preparing early in the spring too. Livestock weigh-ins to track the rate-of-gain in the animals for sheep are in May, and beef weigh-ins are in February. "The kids have to be thinking that far ahead, too," Sandager said.Livestock is brought in ahead of time for identification by tattoo or ear tag number. Owners are required to sign affidavits that the animals they bring in for identification are the same animals they will bring to the fair.Right before the fairAs the time for the fair draws closer, a pre-fair cleanup night for the fairgrounds is scheduled with the help of local 4-H clubs.Time is spent "keeping up with the little problems that arise." This year, housing the horse entries was an issue. The horse barn at the fairgrounds holds 22 horses and 29 people entered exhibits. Some enter more than one animal, but this year, only one horse can be stalled at the fair.It was decided that the extra horses would be housed in the swine barn. "A lot of that kind of troubleshooting stuff — that’s what I end up doing," Sandager said. Paperwork, paperwork, paperworkOnce exhibits are registered, paperwork has to be completed for each one.Judge boxes are prepared with the information the judges will need. Registration files are also prepared for each exhibitor. "When you are talking about over 1,000 exhibits, it’s a lot of paperwork," Sandager said.For livestock judging, Tupperware containers are filled with the items the judge’s need. Days will be hectic next week while non-perishable exhibits are checked in Monday. Wednesday is the day for check-in for livestock, judging for non-perishable items, a pet show and a cat show. By the end of the weekend it will all be over until next year."Saturday night at about midnight, you’re going, ‘Ohhh … it’s done,’" Sandager said. Judging the exhibitsFair 4-H entries are judged one-half on the project itself and one-half on the knowledge of the person entering the project, according to Sandager.What entrants can tell the judges about their projects is important, according to Sandager."It’s much more of a learning process," she said.Some people may see 4-H entries at the fair and wonder why they earned a purple. Entrants can earn purple ribbons by knowing steps in the process of their project from start to finish and demonstrating to judges what they learned from their projects. In the open class, just the entries themselves are judged.