Flagler County Fair raises $4,000 from dessert auction for local family

'We have a pretty close-knit community,' Fair board President Penny Buckles said.

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The Flagler County Fair & Youth Show always hosts a dessert fundraiser during the annual 4-H and FFA Youth livestock show and sale.

Normally, Fair board President Penny Buckles said, the funds raised at the auction go back into the fair. This year, the funds were instead gifted to Keaton Shamp and Abigail Cody for their baby Kolter's pediatric therapy. 

Kolter was born with health issues and Shamp and Cody must take him to specialized therapy treatments in Cary, North Carolina. This year, Buckles said, the dessert auction raised $4,050 for Kolter's treatments. Not only will that cover the therapy cost, but the hotel and fuel needed for the trip.

"We have a pretty close-knit community," she said.

She said that not only did the community pull together to raise more money than it normally does for the dessert auction, but more people donated baked goods for the auction in the first place. 

In general, she said the 2025 auction performed better than in past years. The livestock show and sale highlights the youth in the local FFA and 4-H groups who have raised various livestock to then sell at auction, ranging from rabbits and pullets (female chickens), to goats, swine and steer.

Buckles said the board won't know the final totals for the auction for a few days yet as the add-ons - donations - made to each child still need to be totaled, but she knows that the sale prices were higher than the average and more people attended the Fair than usual.

"It exceeded my expectations," she said.

Lacey Weber's 91-pound goat, for example, sold for $20 per pound - the typical price being $4 per pound for the goats, Buckles said. Graduating senior Laci Westbrook's 1,314-pound steer went for a typical $5 per pound, but fellow senior Madison Myers' 1,399-pound steer sold for $7.50.

Buckles said the auction is really for the kids, but the buyers are also getting a good deal.

"Even when they pay $5 a pound, it's a steal," Buckles said, comparing the grocery store prices to that of auction's. A lot of people, she said, "want that locally grown meat."

 

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