- April 4, 2025
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Rilyn Stiegler, 10th grade, wearing a ghost costume, makes a Pac-Man costume for her cow Nova, with Bailey and Ronnie Stiegler.
Photo by Ian SwabySeventh grader Kaleen Callahan prepares Juniper for the costume show.
Photo by Ian SwabyFifth grader Sophia Sandusky brings a costume piece towards Mary Dazy.
Photo by Ian SwabySophia Sandusky, fifth grade, and Mary Dazy
Photo by Ian SwabyAlex Ultsch prepares Pumpkin for the show.
Photo by Ian SwabySeventh grader Kaleen Callahan walks with Juniper.
Photo by Ian SwabyParticipants take a trip around the arena, with eighth grader Alex Ultsch and Pumpkin in back.
Photo by Ian SwabyWillow and Audrey Florkewski, sixth grader, take a trip through the arena.
Photo by Ian SwabySeventh grader Jackson Watson walks with Posie, whose costume announces that she is for sale, and "great for kids."
Photo by Ian SwabyThird grader Roko Vrbanovich takes to the arena with Milkshake.
Photo by Ian SwabyThe participants return to the stables, with Ashton Stiegler, seventh grade, and his cow Molly, second from the front.
Photo by Ian SwabyLibby Dynamite Pinson and Addy Porter, an eighth grader. Pinson was grateful for the chance to honor Alexis Brotherton, to whom the costume originally belonged.
Photo by Ian SwabyWhen Ashton Stiegler, a seventh grader and a member of 4-H in Sarasota County, was walking through the grounds of the Sarasota County Fair, he happened to notice a robber mask for sale.
He decided it would be the perfect basis for a costume. He would wear a robber outfit, and his cow Molly would dress as a police car.
"It gives the kids a chance to be creative," said Bill McClain, of the Sarasota County 4-H Foundation, regarding the cattle costume contest on March 17. "Every little bit of that was thought of by the kids."
There was far more work on display than just the costumes themselves.
Along with the fair's other livestock events, the contest was a chance for kids to showcase the work involved in caring for and bonding with the animals over a period of months, performing tasks like ensuring they meet weight requirements.
A relationship with their animal was helpful when taking them into the arena, kids said, as getting a cow to walk, while wearing a costume in the heat, is no simple feat.
“She was a little feisty,” said Roko, a third grader, of his cow Milkshake.
When she gets that way, however, he’ll just tap her on the nose.
At the event, 4-H members could be seen wearing T-shirts in honor of former member Alexis Brotherton of Sarasota, who died in 2023 at age 20.
Eighth grader Addy Porter said it meant a lot to her to showcase a St. Patrick's Day costume created by Brotherton, with Porter's cow Libby Dynamite Pinson.
“I had been with her for a while, and she had always been there to help,” she said.
The public can see more livestock shows, as well as auctions, throughout the duration of the fair, held until Sunday, March 24.
“I absolutely love it. I can't believe I have the opportunity to do this every year,” said Rilyn Stiegler, a tenth-grader. “It is so amazing and crazy that I can bond with an animal for close to a year and be able show her in the arena, so that everybody else sees what they could be doing too."
