Rocky Mountain Oyster Fry funds 4-H awards, scholarships and more

Michelle Maloney’s kids are grown, but she remains a club leader — and a big supporter of the annual Rocky Mountain Oyster Fry fundraiser.

Maloney is the leader of the Sew What club, a club dedicated to designing and making clothing. While 4-H is known for kids raising animals from rabbits to sheep and cattle, Sew What is one of several clubs that don’t include animals.

All the clubs benefit from the annual Oyster Fry. Connie Melzer, the county’s CSU 4-H extension specialist for youth development, said the annual event, now in its 30th year — has in the past decade raised nearly $400,000. That money goes to scholarships, championship belt buckles and other awards, and grants for club activities.

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Maloney said the grants could be available if the Sew What participants wanted to take a field trip somewhere for a club-related purpose.

The jewels in the crown

But scholarships are the biggest jewels in the Oyster Fry’s fundraising crown.

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Money from the event funds a quartet of $4,000 scholarships for club participants.

This year’s Oyster Fry proceeds will fund a fifth scholarship, in the memory of former program director Jenny Leonetti, who earlier this year lost a long battle with cancer.

Along with the local 4-H and Eagle County in general, the Oyster Fry has grown over the years. In its early days, people packed the exhibit hall at the fairgrounds, chowing down on Rocky Mountain oysters — always with an alternative entrée, of course — along with sides and delicious homemade desserts. There’d also be live and silent auctions, and a good time was had by all.

The Oyster Fry for some time now has been held at the much larger Eagle River Center. That makes room for more people — as many as 500 — more events and, of course, more fun.

This year’s entertainment includes music from the Joey Rowland band, a popular group in the Grand Junction music scene. There’s a petting zoo, a mechanical bull, and the silent and live auctions continue.

There’s also a firearms auction, with Justin Winstead of Trip’s Gun Supply in Gypsum handing the necessary paperwork for auction winners.

Whistling Bullets, the local shooting sports club, will have a trailer on hand.

Volunteers are key

Youngsters in 4-H put in a lot of volunteer work, from setting up and taking down tables and chairs to serving food and running the petting zoo.

Melzer noted that “4-H is run off volunteers. If we didn’t have the volunteers, we couldn’t do it.”

One thing that’s been taken off members’ to-do lists is selling tickets. That’s now being done online and at the door. But there’s still plenty to do.

The 4-H season starts in the fall, although most clubs start in January or so. The season’s peak is the Eagle County Fair, when members exhibit everything from animals to clothes to educational boards.

A lot of work goes into every member’s year, especially those who raise animals. There are no vacation or sick days for those raising livestock. Those animals need to be fed and cared for no matter what.

The people who come to the Oyster Fry have to be fed, too, and people flock to the event.

“It’s fun, and it just seems to get more popular,” Maloney said. It’s also a chance for folks from the county’s clubs to get together.

“The 4-H community is full of awesome people, people who want to support kids,” Maloney said. The 4-H life gets into the spirits of both kids and adults. Maloney said more than half of the club leaders no longer have their own kids in 4-H.

“There’s just something about 4-H and these kids,” Maloney said. “It’s great to see the kids learn, and I love being with the kids.”