Where North Idaho gathers, where North Idaho raises its own

Before Cyrus Vore ever sat in a college classroom, he stood in a show ring.

Long before lectures and degrees, there were early mornings at the fairgrounds: boots in the dirt, animals to tend to and lessons learned that had nothing to do with textbooks.

His first memory of the North Idaho State Fair goes back to when he was 5 years old. He tried mutton busting. It didn’t last long. A quick fall, a boot caught in the harness and likely ice cream afterward to soften the fall. He never tried it again, but the fair stayed with him.

By age 11, he joined 4-H. His first projects were small engines, rabbits and poultry — a broken-down lawn mower, two rabbits and a backyard full of birds became his first classroom. At the time, they were simply projects. Looking back, they were the beginning of something much bigger.

Fair mornings came before sunrise. Cyrus washed pigs before 5 a.m., cleaned sheep and goat stalls, and checked feed and water for chickens and turkeys. By the time the gates opened, Cyrus had finished his work. What felt like routine responsibility was quietly building discipline, resilience and pride.

He recalls that the hardest part of showing wasn’t the competition; it was knowing that each fair marked the end of that year’s project. Especially with market animals, where months of care ended in one final walk through the ring. There’s a bittersweetness in that moment: pride in the work, gratitude for the experience and the understanding that something meaningful is coming to an end.

One year, that understanding deepened. Cyrus won a “Pay It Forward” lamb, a project meant to carry generosity forward. Around the same time, a local 4-H family was facing unimaginable hardship after their child was diagnosed with leukemia. With encouragement from his mom, Cyrus decided his market lamb would become more than a project. He donated every dollar from the sale to help with medical costs.

When the auctioneer announced that the lamb would sell as a charity donation, something shifted in the ring. The bidding climbed higher than any animal he had ever sold. Numbers kept rising. Buyers leaned in. The crowd rallied.

Cyrus stood there, bracing his lamb, overwhelmed as his community showed up in a way he would never forget. In that moment, 4-H became bigger than ribbons or record books. It became family.

He would go on to serve as the Idaho 4-H president, traveling the state and speaking to hundreds of peers. He graduated from North Idaho College before finishing high school, and later earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Boise State University. Scholarships from the North Idaho Fair and Rodeo Foundation, 4-H, AmeriCorps and community supporters helped carry him forward, the same community that once stood behind him in the sale ring.

Cyrus now serves as the Kootenai County 4-H program coordinator, returning to invest in the program that helped shape him. During the legislative session, he also works in the Idaho House of Representatives, where the confidence first practiced in the show ring continues to serve him well.

Stories like his are why something former Kootenai County Sheriff Pierce Clegg once shared with me has stayed with me.

The county jail and the fairgrounds sit side by side, separated by little more than a fence line. Pierce once told me, “In all my years, I never had a youth who thrived at the fairgrounds end up on my side of the fence.” He had seen it firsthand.

That belief is why he continues to return each year as a buyer at our Youth Stock Show and Sale. Not for recognition, but because he understands what goes on inside those barns.

It isn’t just livestock raised. It’s responsibility, confidence and resilience. It’s the quiet discipline of doing hard things before sunrise and learning to stand steady when the moment feels bigger than you.

Cyrus is one story. There are many more like him. Our youth who once stood in these barns now serve as business owners, teachers, public servants and leaders. Some return to mentor. Some return to support. Some return to serve.

You can see it over time, in the way they carry themselves, in the way they speak, in the way they remember who once stood behind them.

Somewhere between a broken lawnmower and a market lamb, someone is building something that lasts.

And that may be the most important thing we raise here.

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This article is an installment of monthly columns by Alexcia Jordan, general manager and CEO of the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, home of the North Idaho State Fair and Rodeo. Alexcia has dedicated her career to fairs, agriculture, and community engagement. She has more than 20 years of experience in leadership, marketing and event management. Alexica is passionate about preserving tradition while building a strong future for North Idaho’s fairgrounds and the generations it serves.