11/24/2025
Fall Harvest Roundup
The 2025 Wayne County 4-H Fall Harvest Roundup was on Saturday November 1st at the Park Street Complex in Honesdale. The Fall Harvest Roundup is an opportunity for members who enter the pumpkin, onion, potato, turkey, or meat bird project to exhibit their projects, be evaluated by local experts, and hear critiques on how to improve their projects for future years. A total of 11 4-H members exhibited: 19 pumpkins in seven different classes, three potato entries, two onion entries, and six meat bird entries.
Two Wayne County Master Gardeners, Wanda Eisenhauer and Mary Fenton, served as official Judges for the 2025 Wayne County 4-H Pumpkin Round-up. The judging criteria that they used to judge the different classes of 4-H pumpkins included: pumpkins had to be uniform in size and shape, have uniform “orange color”, have a strong stem or handle, show no insect damage, no bruising and/or cuts and have no obvious skin defects. This year there were 19 entries into the 4-H Pumpkin Round-up by 6 4-H members, and the results are as follows:
Grand Champion 4-H Pumpkin-Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club) with her pumpkin weighing 12.5lbs in the 11-15lb division.
Reserve Grand Champion 4-H Pumpkin – Truly Zablocky (Bethany 4-H Club) with her 4.4lb pumpkin in the under 1-5lb division.
Class #1 – Miniature Pumpkins and Pumpkins Less Than (1) Pound in Weight –
1st place- Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)
2nd place- Truly Zablocky (Bethany 4-H Club)
3rd place- Everly Zablocky (Bethany 4-H Club)
4th place- Kairi Loughran (Explorers 4-H Club)
Class #2 Pumpkins (1) Pound to (5) Pounds –
1st place- Truly Zablocky (Bethany 4-H Club)
2nd place- Everly Zablocky (Bethany 4-H Club)
3rd place- Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)
4th place- Kairi Loughran (Explorers 4-H Club)
5th place- Henry Rickard (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
Class #3 Pumpkins from (6) Pounds to (10) Pounds –
1st place- Henry Rickard (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
2nd place- Shawn Hineline (Explorers 4-H Club)
Class #4 Pumpkins – From (11) Pounds to (15) Pounds –
1st place- Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)
2nd place- Henry Rickard (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
Class #5 – Pumpkins from (16) Pounds to (20) Pounds –
1st place- Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)
2nd place- Henry Rickard (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
Class #6 Pumpkins Over (20) Pounds –
1st place- Henry Rickard (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
Class #7 – Tall Pumpkins –
1st place- Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)
2nd place- Logan Merring (Waymart Horizons 4-H Club)
3rd place- Henry Rickard (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
The Wayne County Master Gardeners, in addition to serving as judges, also supported the 4-H Pumpkin Round-up by awarding monetary prizes to each Pumpkin class winner and donated fresh apple cider, milk, and donuts to all of the 4-H Fall Harvest Roundup participants.
This year’s Potato and Onion Judge was Wayne County Master Gardener Coordinator Ashley Sexton. The judging criteria for the 4-H Onion entries included: (5) uniform – in-size onions that are free from disease, insect damage, defects, and blemishes. Each onion should also have its green “tops” trimmed to about 1 ½ to 2 inches long, and root hairs should also be trimmed to ½ inch length. The outer layer of the onion should be removed to re-veal the clean bulb underneath for a polished look.
This year we had two entries into the 4-H Onion Round-up by two members, and the results are as follows:
Grand Champion 4-H Onions- Henry Rickard (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
Res. Grand Champion 4-H Onions- Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)
Onion Class:
1stplace- Henry Rickard (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
2nd place- Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)
The judging criteria for the 4-H Potato entries included: Potatoes must be entered into one of the three classes of potatoes: red-skinned varieties, white-skinned varieties, or russet-skinned or baking type. Each entry must include (5) uniform—in-size potatoes that are free from disease, insect damage, defects, and blemishes. Potatoes should be cleaned gently using a soft bristle brush after air drying to remove excess soil while keeping the integrity of the skins intact.
This year we had three entries into the 4-H Potato Round-up by two 4-H members, and the results are as follows:
Grand Champion 4-H Potatoes- Henry Rickard (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)- White skinned variety
Res. Grand Champion 4-H Potatoes- Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)- Red skinned variety
White-skinned variety potatoes:
1stplace- Henry Rickard (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
2nd place- Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)
Red-skinned variety potatoes:
1stplace- Channing Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)
This year’s Meat Bird Round-Up was judged by Zachary Curtis, Penn State Extension Agronomy Educator- Wayne County. Meat Birds were judged for the following desirable criteria: broad and meaty breast, back, and wings, large meaty legs, and indication of some body fat with skin that appears “yellow”. Each entry consists of two birds that should be of similar weight and equal conformation to indicate uniform management practices throughout the entire members’ flock. Members were required to exhibit two dressed, packaged market-ready birds for their entry. To be able to compete, each entry had to pass a temperature control test for food safety purposes.
Some of the defects to avoid and keep to a minimum would include: overscald, poor bleeding, excess water in the poultry bag, dirt on the skin, pin feathers, skin tears, bruising and breast blisters. If any of these defects were observed, points were taken off the 20 points each entry starts with.
Results of this years’ roundup are as follows:
Grand Champion Meat Birds- Henry Rickard- (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club) with his two birds both weighing 8.2 pounds.
Reserve Grand Champion Meat Birds- Kairi Loughran (Explorers 4-H Club) with her 7 and 8 pound birds.
Junior Division-
1st place & class Champion- Henry Rickard(Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
2nd place & class Res. Champion- Kairi Loughran (Explorers 4-H Club)
3rd place- Ryder Rutledge (Tri-Gal 4-H Club)
4th place- Ethan Gries (Laurella 4-H Club)
5th place- Sullivan Bigart (Cherry Ridge 4-H Club)
Intermediate Division-
1st place & class Champion- Owen Gries (Laurella 4-H Club)
The 4-H Pumpkin, Onion, Potato, Meat Bird, & Turkey Projects are just a few of the over 100 projects offered through the Wayne County 4-H Program. For additional information please contact the Wayne County Extension Office by email at: [email protected], or, by telephone at: 570-616-0880, or by visiting the Extension Office located at 648 Park Street (Park Street Complex), in Honesdale, PA.
