- April 8, 2025
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Christopher Lightsey has been working with and showing animals at the Flagler County Fair and Youth Show's 4-H and FFA Youth Livestock Show and Sale for the last seven years.
It's interesting, he said, working with the animals, and it's something he enjoys. But that's not why Lightsey participates every year.
Instead, he's focused on the future: working with the local 4-H group and completing projects like that of the livestock show is good for scholarships and educational opportunities, he said.
"It'll make it easier to get to college," Lightsey said.
The Fair is a showcase of Florida agriculture, with local youth exhibiting their livestock: from rabbits and chickens to pigs to heifers and steers. The 2025 Fair is April 7-11 at the Flagler County Fairgrounds.
Lightsey said one of the most difficult parts about looking after livestock animals is when they get sick.
It's happened a few times over the last seven years that he's been showing animals at the fair, beginning with rabbits and pullets - young female chickens - before he moved on to goats and chickens.
Christopher Lightsey's father Norris Lightsey, who teaches health and physical education at Flagler Palm Coast High School, said he has watched his son step up over the years to take on more and more responsibility with the animals. He said watching his son work hard makes him proud.
"Especially when it gets the final project, you see him in the ring and and he feels good about what he's done - it always makes me feel proud," he said.
The Flagler County Fair has become something of a father-son activity for them. Norris Lightsey said his family comes form three generations of farmers, until he decided to become a teacher. Now, he said, he gets to enjoy watching his son learn to care for farm animals.
"For [Christopher] to get a little bit of experience actually doing it hands-on, on a daily basis for like six months, is a nice kickback to our family upbringing," he said.
Norris Lightsey said he's seen the fair grow throughout the years, and is glad for the opportunity the children have with 4-H. When he was a child in his local 4-H group, he said, he learned about garden, managing projects, shooting, hunting and hunting safety.
"It was just way for kids get out away from home and learn some new things," Norris Lightsey said. "Learn how to do things that you use later on in life, skills instead of just [the] theoretical."
Lightsey said participating in the Flagler County Fair's livestock show has become a part of his life now. It's just something he does every year.
"After seven years, it's something I'm used to now, and it's not as difficult," he said. "It's interesting."
Lightsey only has two more shows before he ages out and then graduates high school. He said he's not sure about what kind of career he wants yet, but he has a goal.
"What I mainly want," he said, "is to have a kind of job where I make enough money to get all my needs and still have some left over."
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