4-H Pig Sells for $17,500 in Memory of Madison Lee
AgDay 08/12/21 - 4-H Ham Sells for $25,000
A 250-pound 4-H pig sold for $17,500 at the Monroe County Fair in Ottawa Lake, Mich., on Aug. 6.
This pig wasn’t just any pig – it was the pig of 18-year-old Madison “Madie” Lee of Ottawa Lake, Mich., who was killed in a car accident less than a week earlier on Aug. 1. Madison’s twin sister, Macie, showed her sister’s pig while the auctioneer snagged bids from a packed arena, the Monroe News reports.
At the end of the flurry of bidding, the pig was sold to Indian Creek Zoo in Lambertville, CM Smith Sand and Stone, and CM Smith Trucking.
"It has been an incredibly hard loss for our community," says Claudia Paddy, Monroe County 4-H program coordinator. "The sale was extremely moving. The entire crowd got up for a standing ovation after the sale was complete."
Spectators left in tears after the amazing display of love and support showered on the Lee family. Paddy says it is the highest premium ever paid for a hog in the Monroe County’s 74-year history of its 4-H livestock auction.
The money raised from the sale of Madie’s pig, plus the sale of pens of chickens and turkeys she had raised and exhibited on the day of the accident, will be used to start a foundation called “Madie’s Clovers.” This fund will assist 4-H members with buying and housing their animals in the future, Paddy says.
"Madie showed livestock and was active in 4-H," Paddy says. "She recently graduated from Whiteford High School and was heading to Toledo University to continue her education. Her family has shown incredible strength through this time and honored Madie's wishes to be at the fair last week showing what she was so proud of – her livestock."
Madie and Macie are the daughters of Michael and Nichole Lee.
According to the Monroe News, Macie was driving home on the freeway with Madison and another passenger when it was struck from behind by a Jeep Patriot driven by a 53-year-old Lambertville man. Lee was transported to ProMedica Toledo Hospital where she died from her injuries.
Ham Sells for $25,000 at Missouri Fair
A few states away, at the Moniteau County Fair in California, Mo., a ham sold for $25,000. FFA supporters came together on Aug. 5 during the junior ham auction to honor the memory of Lucas Oswald, 16, who passed away on July 5 from a brain arteriovenous malformation, or AVM.
Before he passed away, Lucas cured a ham to show at the fair. The fair board reached out to the Oswald family and said they wanted them to enter the ham, KRCG News 13 reports.
His FFA ham was sold not once, but six times, the article said. But the generosity didn’t stop there. When it was all said and done, local businesses and families raised more than $40,000 to go toward a memorial fund.
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