JANESVILLE — Evan Check is participating in his final Rock County 4-H Fair. Ashley Lester is in one of her first.

Such stories are common at the country’s oldest 4-H fair, which takes place Tuesday through July 27 (Sunday) at the Rock County Fairgrounds in Janesville.

Lester, 9, of Janesville, already has participated in several fair-related events as a member of the Harmony 4-H Club. At the end of June, she earned a blue ribbon for a black and blue velvet dress she made and then showed at a style-review program at Blackhawk Technical College.

She will show off her dress during the fair style show at 1 p.m. July 27.

“I really like meeting new friends and being at the fair,” Lester said. “And I like dresses a lot. I wanted to have something for the holidays.”

Check, 19, is in his last year of eligibility and has shown a number of different animals during more than a decade as a 4-H and FFA member in Milton. Check will show one of his pigs at the fair this year, after also showing sheep for a number of years.

He has siblings who will continue to participate, and plans to continue going to the fair, but in a different capacity.

“It’s kind of hard to see it go,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot different watching, instead of participating.”

Check and others will have plenty to watch during this year’s event, despite continuing concerns about the size of the fairgrounds (see related story).

New this year is the Rock County 4-H Fair Master Showman contest at 2 p.m. July 27 in the Stock Pavilion. This contest pits beef-, sheep-, swine-, goat- and dairy-handlers against each other. The showman winners in their respective senior divisions will advance to the master showman contest and must present each animal they didn’t show in their first contest.

“We’re going to see who the ultimate showman is,” said Maureen Fox-Rusch, the advertising and concessions manager for the fair.

Donna Duerst, an officer in charge of 4-H youth development for the University of Wisconsin-Extension Rock County, said the number of 4-H and FFA exhibits is up this year.

“There hasn’t been a big downturn, and some counties have been experiencing that,” she said. “Our kids stick with it and finish what they started, and it shows up at the fair.”

Duerst said the photography exhibits have been particularly popular over the past several years. This year, there were more than 1,200 entries.

“We think photography has been big because it’s not that hard to afford, since with digital cameras you aren’t buying film,” Duerst said. “It really is something to see it; you can spend half a day looking at it.”

Rusch thinks the 4-H exhibits — along with entertainment like the royalty coronation, the Rock County STAR contest and musical performers Ronnie Milsap, Randy Travis, Corbin Bleu and Lady Antebellum — will draw large crowds to the grandstand.

“The way the economy is, people want to stay home for entertainment,” she said. “If the weather holds out, I think we’re going to have a record-breaking season, and it would be nice to think we could for what we have to offer.”

Check said that kind of entertainment is what he will miss most about participating.

“I’m going to miss spending all day at the fair,” he said