SPENCER, Iowa (KTIV) - It’s not just about blue ribbons at the Clay County Fair this year. A growing program called Bacon Buddies is helping youth with disabilities take center stage and provide life lessons for everyone involved.

“I got to meet a young man with Down’s syndrome; he is a really nice young man,” explained Evan Storley, senior 4-H member.

The Bacon Buddies program pairs young people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, called athletes, with experienced 4-H or FFA mentors, to help them experience showing pigs at the fair.

“I kind of walked him through what I do pre-show,” said Storley. “So, I told him first we get them up, we brush our hogs off, so they look spotless, and then we kind of get them moving. Wake them up a little if they were sleeping.”

For some, i

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