Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays is talking with Tyler Norvell, President of OYE about this year’s Oklahoma Youth Expo. As swine exhibitors have already begun moving into the barns in preparation for the upcoming livestock shows that will take place over the next two weeks, Norvell talked about the generous rewards and scholarships that will be given out, scheduling, and more.
“This year, we expect to award kids with over 3 million dollars between scholarships, premium sales, and the breeding sales that we do,” Norvell said. “Put that into comparison back when I started in 2012, that was about a million and a half, and back when I was a senior in high school in ’02, that was about $300,000.”
Thanks to the help of numerous sponsors, Norvell said OYE has the opportunity to generously award the exhibitors at the show for their hard work. That includes Title Sponsor (again) McDonalds and the 2024 Presenting Sponsor, Oklahoma’s Oil and Gas Industry, plus so many others in and out of agriculture.
“These kids work hard, they earn this, and it is really fun to be a part of and see the business community and the philanthropic community come out and support these young people that they know are the future of our state,” Norvell said.
One of the newest elements of OYE is the Ag Mechanics contest, which has grown each year- it has been moved to the opening weekend on Saturday, March 16th. Norvell says he has had tremendous interest from the business community about this show. “Talking to industry, that’s the one where people ask, can we come watch that? We wanna see that- we want to be a part of that because they know that those are the skill sets that needed in the workforce.” The Ag Mechanics Contest starts at 8 AM Saturday morning in the Pavilion.(straight across from Barn 3 and the Super Barn)
Norvell is also excited about the Legislative/Celebrity showmanship contest, which has moved this year to Monday evening, March 18th. It will be held in the State Fair Arena (The Big House) at 6 pm.
Speaking of the Big House- this year and next year in 2025 will be the final OYE shows in that facility as it is expected that the New Fairgrounds Arena will be ready for the 2026 Oklahoma Youth Expo. Tyler and his team are excited about the tremendous new venue that is coming- but it will be bittersweet to say goodbye to the Jim Norick Arena that has housed so many basketball tournaments, Junior Livestock Shows as well as the World Quarterhorse Show, Cattlemen’s Congress and more.
For 2025- the state basketball tournament games were a weekend earlier than OYE, so the breeding doe showmanship and breeding doe show will be happening in the State Fair Arena on Friday.
Click here for the full schedule for the 2024 OYE. The Oklahoma Farm Report team will be snapping pictures from start to finish- and you can see them as we add them to our Flickr album for 2024- available here. If you want to look back to the 2023 OYE- click here for our pictures from last year’s event.
Our coverage of the 2024 Oklahoma Youth Expo is sponsored by Hilliary Communications. More than 60 years ago, the Hilliary Family acquired a small telephone company in rural southwest Oklahoma. Now in its third generation, the company has grown from a single exchange with just 100 access lines covering 22 square miles to now serving more than 19,000 customers in 22 counties throughout Oklahoma & Texas. The company also offers IP television service and internet speeds up to 1 Gig. Click here to learn more about Hilliary Communications.
