Challenge Program Highlights Youth Work Ethic at Aksarben Stock Show

Grand Island,NE -- When the Aksarben Stock Show kicks off, nerves will certainly be high for all competitors but in this case, maybe their sponsors as well.

Sponsors will be right there with each exhibitor in four categories of the 2024 Challenge Program. The Aksarben Stock Show is showcasing the drive of their annual Challenge Program which pairs a sponsor with a youth exhibitor who will raise and show a calf, goat, lamb or pig during the 2024 event. This event will feature a total of 40 sponsors, each of whom have received photos and written updates of their sponsored animal over the last 6 months.

Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak is a former Challenge Program sponsor and says he quickly learned that sponsors get just as involved as the competitors.

“When we were in the ring at the time, I could sense the competition element that was going on, and then the gratification for the award that we got at the end specifically for the interaction we had between me and my youth competitor,” Kotulak said.

There are ten animals per division, and they all come from the same breeder. Once the animal is sponsored, it then goes with its youth to be raised, prepped and trained all summer. All of those efforts then culminate in a showing at the Aksarben Stock Show.

“They’re able to gain that experience, so it’s super cool for other people to get to show those livestock that maybe they aren’t as familiar with or wouldn’t necessarily have the means to do that on their own,” said Jacque Johnson, the Assistant Livestock Manager of the Aksarben Stock Show.

The event gets underway on Thursday, September 26, with the first challenge program weigh in set for 8 a.m. on Friday, September 27. The challenge shows will then take place starting at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 28.

For more information on the Aksarben Challenge Program and to find out how you can become a sponsor in 2025, contact the Nebraska State Fair Offices at (308) 382-1620.

Video Package from Spencer Schubert