The smell of chicken was in the air at the Farmer’s Market Thursday night but not the extra crispy kind the Colonel serves. Instead, live chickens were on display courtesy of members of the local 4H club as they showed off the work they put into raising their chicks into chickens over the summer.

According to U.T. Extension 4H Agent Leigh Fuson, the event was their chick change poultry show.

“The kids got 15 baby chickens in May and they raised them all summer,” she revealed during the event held at Farmer’s Market next to the county complex this past week. “They bring three of the chickens back to the show and we judge them and give out prizes and then sell them to the public.”

The annual event serves as a fundraiser for 4H and also allows students to recoup the money they invested in the chickens this summer.

“Some of them bid on their own chickens and take them back home and spend more money than the parents usually want to,” she noted. “It is an open public auction.”

The youths get their initial $40 deposits back by participating in the sale and the 4H raises money to help fund its efforts.