For Sandy Evenson, the Northwest Montana Fair is more than a summer holiday. The annual event, which showcases hundreds of livestock and home goods projects from 4-Hers, is simply a way of life.

“I don’t think I’ve really ever missed a fair,” the 63-year-old said. “It’s just part of life. It’s always been important.”

Evenson joked that she got her start in the 4-H world as a toddler, sitting in her highchair and watching her mother cook. Growing up on the family farm near Stillwater, she often spent her free time helping her father feed the family’s cattle or fixing irrigation pipes in the fields. Her parents were both 4-H leaders, as were Evenson’s paternal grandparents, and there was little question in Evenson’s mind that she would take up the family tradition.

“We just didn’t know an

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