Rylee Dunn, the 2024 Pennsylvania Lamb and Wool Queen, stands with the ribbon-winning Merino wool at the 2024 Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. Submitted photo

Connie and Harold Dunn are no strangers to the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. They’ve attended the state’s annual agricultural showcase almost every year since the 1970s, around the time their relationship began.

“We’ve been going every year since my husband and I were dating, so I think 1978 or ’79,” Connie said. “Except for the COVID year when it was canceled. And then the next year, we had COVID, so we couldn’t come.”

Connie and Harold maintain a 62-acre sheep farm, Whipporwill Farm in Connoquenessing Township. According to Connie, the farm maintains about 200 sheep.

This year, the two are sharing the joy of the state farm show with their grandchildren — all 10 of them. The large party traveled halfway across the state, taking 10 sheep with them to show off at the Pennsylvania Farm Show for three straight days.

“We arrived early in the morning on Wednesday, and we'll go home late Saturday,” Connie said.

Each day of sheep shows had a slightly different theme. The show on Thursday was dedicated to wool breeds, while the show on Friday was dedicated to meat breeds.

Unlike the first two days of sheep showcases, which were open to breeders of all ages, the sheep show on Saturday, Jan. 13, was solely open to junior breeders.

After two days, the Dunn family has claimed a host of awards, including Grand Champion honors in the fleece category for one of their Merino sheep. Granddaughter Madalyn also claimed Champion Merino Ewe honors.

“The kids have (also) placed in a whole variety of different placings,” Connie said.

When they weren’t busy with their sheep exhibits, Connie and the rest of the family have been taking in the rest of what the Pennsylvania Farm Show has to offer.

“We’ve been through the goat exhibit and the horses, and we’ve gone through the commodity buildings,” Connie said. “They have other educational presentations going on.”

The grandchildren are active participants in Butler County’s 4-H program. One of them, Rylee Dunn, is the reigning Pennsylvania Lamb and Wool Queen of 2024, a position overseen by the Pennsylvania Sheep and Wool Growers Association.

They weren’t the only ones to make the trip east to Harrisburg. According to Butler County 4-H educator Amy Metrick, roughly 20 to 25 children from Butler County, along with their families, went to the show either to participate or to observe.

“We had people showing goats. We had some showing pigs and sheep and beef cows,” Metrick said.

While Butler County has its own agricultural showcases during the year, such as the Big Butler Fair and the Butler Farm Show, Metrick says that the state farm show is on a whole different level.

“It’s much bigger,” Metrick said. “It’s almost 40 acres under a roof, and there’s barns and there’s exhibits and a couple of big arenas that sit thousands of people.”

Jack Dunn prepares a sheep for show at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg. Submitted photo