From Sunday afternoon’s parade to Saturday evening’s talent show, the Madison County 4-H Fair at the fairgrounds in Alexandria offers a smorgasbord of learning, entertainment and gastronomical options.

It all starts with the two staples of 4-H fairs — farm animals and amusement rides.

The Madison County fair will attract a great variety of critters to captivate curious barn cruisers: cats, dogs, hogs, cattle, sheet, goats, chickens, pigeons, rabbits, horses, ponies, llamas and alpacas. Check this edition and editions of The Herald Bulletin throughout the week for show days and times.

Luehr’s Spectacular Rides will provide the amusement rides, beginning at 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Concession stands for standard fair fare — Watch out, stomach, here come the elephant ears, corn dogs, lemonade shake-ups and candied apples! — will be open noon to 11 p.m.

For most of us, the fair is a week-a-year event. We go for the entertainment, the food, the diversion from our work-a-day lives. But for Madison County 4-H club members, the fair is a culmination of weeks of hard work to get their projects in blue-ribbon shape.

Anyone who’s bathed a steer, sewn a dress or raised fancy chickens has an idea of the commitment that goes into many of these projects. 4-H’ers are eligible to participate for 10 years stretching from childhood into adolescence. If they go wire to wire, they’ve devoted hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hours to their projects.

Thirty-three such Madison County 4-H veterans are in their 10th year this time around. It will be an emotional week for them as they complete their final county fairs. Each will embark on the next phase of their lives richer in experience and better prepared through the hard work they’ve done as 4-H’ers. The 4-H pledge speaks to the commitment of these individuals:

I pledge my Head to clearer thinking,

my country, and my world.”

The philosophy and practical application of 4-H have proved popular for more than a century. According to the national organization’s Web site (www.4-h.org), it is the nation’s “largest out-of-school youth program ... with over 7 million members.”

Here at home in Madison County, 4-H is working its magic. Go to the fair this week, and you’ll see.