On Friday afternoon, the members of Inca Pride were busy squeezing in some training time before their weekly 4-H alpaca club meeting.

Mary Lewis, 15, had a dark brown alpaca named Caseopia in tow, and the duo was working on their communication. Lewis let Caseopia know she should walk forward, stop, turn left, walk forward, then stop. Though the moves looked like something out of a dog show, the alpaca seemed more than able to follow direction.

Inca Pride club president Amy Potter, 16, was being tailed by a knee-high baby alpaca named Homer. And some club members were in a practice area doing some Inca Pride dirty work, mucking up alpaca manure in the yard.

Members of the fledgling Island County 4-H club soon sat down in the living room of their club leader Marie Burnett, to talk some real, big business — the Island County Fair which was less than five weeks away.

Between Aug. 14 and 17, islanders will be able to walk through fair barns and view the result of months of preparation 4-H’ers have made for this year’s fair. Judy Feldman, the Island County 4-H program development coordinator, said she hopes fairgoers appreciate the hard work and enjoy their time with the animals.

“We’re trying to remind people that 4-H isn’t just the fair,” Feldman said. “It’s year round that these kids work hard with these animals.”

Feldman took over the 4-H coordinator position in November, and is now doing what she can to let islanders know that the 100-year-old program now teaches more than just cooking, gardening and animal husbandry.

In its beginning, horses, cows, sheep and pigs were the basis of 4-H, along with competitions in sewing, canning and cooking. Now, 4-H clubs nation wide have expanded to include guinea pigs, bunnies, dogs, cats, alpacas and llamas. While 4-H still maintains its original agricultural focus, it now includes photography, science, math and community service.

For example, Central Whidbey’s CEDAR School, located on the grounds of the Au Sable Institute in Coupeville, is currently gardening organically as a 4-H Youth Development program. In addition, curriculum applications are in the works for Island County programs that involve aerospace and computer science.

All of it makes for well-rounded kids.

“These kids are engaged in a positive, healthy program that gives them life skills, responsibility for themselves as well as their projects, and support from their parents and community,” Feldman said.

There are currently 350 members, ages 5-19, in Island County 4-H. With the Island County Fair a month away, all these members are busy for hours every day. For them, summer is no vacation.

On Saturday morning, the horse barns at the fairgrounds were bustling with one of the many horse shows that dot the calendar in July and August. For the most part, the horses were groomed the night before, but 4-H’ers still scrambled between stalls to make last-minute adjustments to manes and hooves.

South Whidbey Centaurs club president Amanda LaVassar, 16, was offering advice for the day’s first event to 10-year-old Danni Marcin.

“We really have to work together with the older kids giving the younger ones advice, because parents aren’t allowed to help,” she said. “We have to do everything ourselves in preparing our horses.”

The teaching opportunities of 4-H don’t limit itself to the older 4-H’ers taking the younger ones under their wings.

The Satin Saddles, the newest horse club in Island County 4-H, is making its show season debut this year. So both club leaders and younger members are learning the ropes.

Satin Saddles club co-leader Brenda Hamilton said the success of her club and others in 4-H depends on the assistance of adult volunteers.

“4-H offers stability for these kids and the ability to know they can grow and further their education and have goals,” she said. “And when adults volunteer to help guarantee this opportunity is here.”

Last year, the National 4-H Council marked its 100th birthday. The organization began as a way to bring education to rural areas and acted as a seed for practical and applied education principles in areas that doubted university educations. When Congress created the Cooperative Extension service in 1914, it included clubs for boys and girls. Decades later, 4-H has blossomed into one of the largest youth development programs in the nation.

Feldman, who grew up in the Fort Worth area of Texas, was not a 4-H’er herself, but remembers her grandmother’s pride for 4-H.

“After she passed, we found some of her ribbons,” she said. “They weren’t much — just little white and red pieces of fabric — but they meant enough to her that she kept them in a box for 84 years.

“It means that much to these kids, too.”