Muskingum County 4 H Members Showcase their Hard Work

ZANESVILLE, OH – For some, the annual fair is about food, rides, and games but for others it’s a chance to show off a year’s worth of hard work.

James McCandlish, a 4 H member, says he’s been working with and showing rabbits at the fair for a number of years now.

He says this year he’s taken on a breeding project as well as two market projects.

“I have taken a California Buck as my breeding project and then two Californians as my markets.” McCandlish said. “My breeding rabbit is about three years old, I’ve raised him, he was an old market rabbit that I did not sell and I’m planning to breed him in the future.”

McCandlish says while there is a lot of care and maintenance that goes into caring for a rabbit, it is one of the easier animals for those who may not have worked with an animal before.

Maddy McConnell, the 2025 Senior Rabbit Ambassador, says she’s been showing rabbits for about 9 years now and this year she is showing her breeding project rabbit Charlie.

She talked about Charlie’s breed and all that goes into getting him show ready.

“I had Holland Lops in the past and I just wanted a little bit of a bigger one and I just wanted to try a new breeder as well.” McConnell said. “They’re not a whole lot different, I still use the same cages and everything, not a whole [is different], I would say he gets brushed a little bit more but other than that, not really anything different.”

There’s still a few days left of the Muskingum County Fair if you’re interested in checking out any of the 4 H projects.

You can head to the Fair’s website for a map of the fairgrounds.