Blum family selected for 4-H hall of fame

WASHINGTON — Bill and Mickey Blum were added to the Washington County 4-H Hall of Fame Thursday evening, during an emotional county fair award ceremony.

The couple was pivotal in the county’s 4-H rabbit scene, and were by many accounts responsible for the size of today’s shows. Bill Blum died in 2016, but his wife Mickey Blum said he would have been honored.

“I really didn’t know what to say because Bill’s been gone now for six years, and he would’ve just been over the moon to think people thought enough of him to give him that honor,” she said. “We’re sure he’s up there saying, ‘Well, somebody else deserves it more than I do,’ but he really did deserve it.”

Bill was known for selling rabbits to 4-H’ers interested in raising them at the affordable rate of “whatever was in their pockets.”

“If a kid had 50 cents, it was 50 cents, that was what you bought it for,” the Blums’ daughter Ruchel Hiller said. “They learned that it wasn’t given to them, it was a lesson … he wanted them to take ownership, and he figured a good way to get them to do that was to get them to buy it.”

The appeal of rabbits for the family was accessibility. Kids could raise the animals with minimal barriers to entry or need for open outdoor space.

“It was a good project for kids who weren’t able to have bigger livestock, or kids in town,” Mickey Blum said. “He wanted to see the numbers grow at the fair … and he enjoyed working with kids and getting them interested.”

Despite the Blums’ generous pricing, their animals were first rate. Many descendants of their herd remain competitive at fairs today, and Bill was known for giving newcomers first picks, even before his own family.

“During their 4-H career, his daughters never won overall grand champion,” Washington County ISU Extension 4-H and Youth Coordinator Amy Green said in a speech Thursday night. “Bill passed away in 2016, and the very next fair, his granddaughter took top honors with the overall grand champion rabbit. Still today, his family, and rabbits from his original herd carry on a legacy in this place.”

Green said Blum’s impact went far beyond the rabbits he provided. On top of Bill’s time as a superintendent of the rabbit department, Green said he was a highly involved volunteer and parent, oversaw the fair’s alignment with national show standards, and a hand-built new cages for rabbits. He also made a personal connection with the community around him.

“Bill was well-known for playing pranks and granting nicknames around the rabbit barn,” she said. “His softer side, however, did come out at the end of each Washington County Fair rabbit show when the top rabbits were placed. A few tears would roll down his cheeks each time a rabbit from his herd made it to the top five.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com