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Leavenworth County Fair 2010: Fair entries run gamut for Hoge sisters of Reno Bobwhites

By Shawn Linenberger - | Aug 10, 2010

A member of the Hoge family is a fashion designer.

Or at least that’s what Onalee Hoge considers her daughter, Mollie, 10, to be in the family’s household.

“She even tells Lauren what to wear,” Onalee said, referring to her oldest daughter, who is 18 and getting ready to start her freshman year at Johnson County Community College.

One of Mollie’s entries for the fair is an outfit she made that has puffy sleeves, a double flounce and a skirt. For an extra touch, she’s added hand-sewn sequins.

“And I’m trying to find the right shoes,” Mollie said.

Onalee said Mollie has put a great deal of effort into the project.

“Your heart’s in that thing,” Onalee said.

Mollie and Lauren live near Linwood and are members of the Reno Bobwhites 4-H club.

Mollie has entries in sheep, horse, photography, cooking, sewing, arts and crafts and performing arts.

Lauren, meanwhile, has narrowed her project categories to four: Horse, sheep, photography and leadership.

“For me, I started out with 3,000 projects,” Lauren joked, referring to the number of projects she entered at the fair when she first got involved nine years ago. “I’m down to four projects I enjoy and really try to exceed in. If I did really well in one, I’d be happy.”

Onalee said she always appreciates judge’s feedback when her daughters are presenting projects at the fair.

“The girls do all their own work, so they feel their successes in the projects,” she said.

Lauren, who plans to attend Kansas State University after JCCC, wants to major in agriculture education and become an FFA adviser. Though it didn’t work out for the home-schooled student to be in FFA, she is eager to teach agriculture education at a high school someday.

Onalee and the girls’ father, Jeff Hoge, have been busy this summer with a home remodel. The girls also have pitched in with those efforts, which has meant an even busier summer in preparation for the fair.

“It’s been difficult,” Lauren said. “I’ve learned how to cope with it. Driving the bobcat, setting rebar, work concrete, plumbing.”

Onalee said Lauren has done well with those chores.

“I think you’re just going to be a good homeowner,” Onalee said with a smile.

With the fair under way this week, Lauren said her favorite part will be having the opportunity to hang out with friends and see their cows and on what they’ve worked all year long and on what they continue to work.

“It’s a week of kind of like a reunion,” Lauren said.

Mollie concurred, noting that being with friends and seeing friends’ projects were the best parts of the fair. She also gets a kick out of picking up balloons and various swag from businesses and organizations in the administration building.

Onalee refers to her clan as a big rodeo family, so some rodeo attendance likely will be on their plate as well.

But it’s preparing projects and seeing the final product that Onalee is most eager for — with Mollie showing horses, for instance.

“The color of ribbon at the fair won’t matter in my opinion,” Onalee said. “She (Mollie) started off very timid walking, and that was all you (speaking to Mollie) really wanted to do. Then she was trotting and now loping. She’s willing to correct the horse when it’s doing something wrong.”