4-H County Round-Up is coming back to Franklin County May 2.

Round-Up is an event for youth who have been active in 4-H, whether by turning in a 4-H project at school, attending a 4-H Club like archery or robotics or participating in a 4-H program like Chick Chain or the Sweet Potato Contest.

This is a reward day for 4-H’ers, who get to participate in 4-H events instead of attending school that day. Franklin County Extension Agent Janet Lovelady will take attendance at Round-Up and send it to each school as proof of participation.

“Thanks to the support of the school administrators, Round-Up is considered a school-related activity, and participants are not marked absent from school for attending,” said Lovelady.

Any 4-H students who placed first or second with a project at school will compete at the county contest at Round-Up. The winner at County Round-Up will be invited to represent Franklin County at the Northwest Alabama 4-H Regional Congress, where they will compete with winners from nine other counties.

Franklin County is hosting Regional Congress this year June 21 on the Russellville City Schools campus.

There will be other project competitions at Round-Up, as well:

• For the Art of Container Gardening, participants must create a container garden that is also a work of art.
• For the $15 Challenge, participants must buy a complete outfit at a thrift store or garage sale without spending more than $15 and model the outfit for the judges.
• For the Freestyle Demonstration, participants will choose a subject and give a step-by-step demonstration of how it’s done.
• For the Freestyle Showcase, participants will choose an activity, collection or project and design a tabletop exhibit to showcase their entry.
• For Speak Up Alabama, participants will prepare either an informative or a persuasive speech that will be delivered in front of a small audience.

4-H high school leaders from Tharptown High School and Belgreen High School will be helping with different stations at the event.

Students from Tharptown, Belgreen, Red Bay, East Franklin, Vina and Russellville elementary and middle schools have signed up so far, Lovelady said.