If this were a wedding anniversary, they’d be calling it a “diamond jubilee.”

Enterprise 4-H Club is 75 years old this summer.

The celebration will take place Sunday, Aug. 10 in Liebenstein Hall on the fairgrounds on the last day of the 2008 Mower County Fair.

Past members and parents are invited to attend.

A barbecue pork sandwich lunch will be served at noon in the 4-H building’s dining hall with a program at 1:30 p.m.

Guests will be invited to inspect club records, photos and memorabilia until 4 p.m. Aug. 10.

John Carroll, an Enterprise 4-H club alumnus, will be the master of ceremonies for the 75th anniversary program.

Carroll is a perfect choice.

“The big thing is 4-H gives you a foundation to start with as a kid,” he said of his experiences in the Enterprise 4-H club. “Growing up on the farm you learn to work and play hard. 4-H was a part of that.

“I learned how to think clearly through the projects I did,” he said. “I didn’t have to worry about failing, because 4-H is an opportunity for any and all kids to get involved in something they enjoy simply for the love of it.”

In the 75 years Enterprise 4-Hers have been working and playing hard, their club name has been synonymous with rural history in Austin Township.

It was originally “Varco Station,” then Rural School District No. 29 and finally Enterprise School.

The club’s members met in the school house until the school closed and the building was sold.

Today, the building is a thrift store at the intersection of U.S. Highway 218 South and Mower County CSAH No. 4 south of Austin.

Enterprise, one of the county’s oldest 4-H clubs, was created in 1933 when F. L. Liebenstein was the county agent for the University of Minnesota Extension Service and Carl Swanson was the 4-H coordinator.

The Extension Home Council was active.

4-H was so popular and widespread, the Enterprise club had its own “official car” to use on club tours.

The 30s and then the 40s were far different times in American agricultural history.

“County’s Greatest Fair Predicted” read the headline in an Austin Daily Herald. “Better Prizes Lure Exhibits, Stir Interest.”

And, “4-H Clubs Plan To Take Big Part.”

Not the least of those was the Enterprise club.

“Anything that makes it for 75 years has a good foundation,” Carroll said, repeating the word so important to him in describing what Enterprise 4-H means to him. “It has been nurtured along and the leaders had to have the foresight to see things are going to change and also the humbleness to change.

“I think Enterprise 4-H has made it 75 years by having those traits,” he said. “It’s hard enough raising kids today. If you get them among good adult volunteers it’s a great way to expose your kids in a safe environment to new things.”

Harlow Sayles (deceased) did that for Carroll.

“The biggest impact on me was Harlow Sayles,” Carroll said. “He was an extremely motivating person in 4-H to me.”

“Not only was he active in the club, but his kids, too, and then his grandkids were my age. He practiced what he preached and I saw three generations at work,” he said.

There were others, too. Kitzman, Schottler and more. There would have to be for such a long period of time. Families linked by heart, hands, head and health.

The Carroll family is but one of them.

John and Karla Carroll have three sons, ages 10, 8 and 3 1/2. The two oldest are 4-H members.

John owns and operates his own business, Maverick Nutrition, a livestock feed sales operation, and helps on his parents’ farm.

His parents, Dick and Rosalie Carroll, have three other children: Kim, married and the mother of four children, and Katie and David.

4-H green runs through three generations of the Carroll family like so many others preparing to celebrate the diamond jubilee anniversary.

John showed hogs and sheep livestock projects, when he was a 4-Her as well as cooking and photography non-livestock projects.

His wife is a former 4-Her in Illinois.

It will be a busy Mower County Fair for John and Karla Carroll.

Noah, the oldest son, will show rabbits, chickens and a prospect market steer as well as non-livestock projects.

Michael, the second oldest son, is in the pre-4-H Cloverbuds organization. He will show rabbits and “help his big brother,” according to their father.

It’s a familiar scene being played out throughout the ranks of Enterprise and other Mower County 4-H clubs.

“Michael has been making some pillows and a quilt, too. His mom has been helping him do that. He’s pretty good at that too,” said the obviously proud father.

Owen will watch his brothers and wait, too young to compete, but not too young to whet his appetite for the 4-H experience and be one of the new faces of the Enterprise 4-H club in its next 75 years.