DES MOINES, Iowa — The 2023 Iowa Governor's Charity Steer Show will take place on Saturday, but 4-H kids have been preparing for their big moment for months.
Kids participating in the show will show off their steer with a celebrity guest.
The show benefits the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Iowa, and it means a lot to 15-year-old Henry Steffensemier.
He told Local 5 doctors diagnosed him with Juvenile Myositis at 19-months-old, and his "celebrity guest" will be the dermatologist who helped him through Juvenile Myositis.
"I spent five days in the Iowa Children's Hospital, so I can kind of relate to what these families are going through in the Ronald McDonald house," Steffensemier.
Outside of Steffensemier's personal connection to the show, he still prepares just like the other kids.
"If you're not laid back, [the steer] is not laid back either," he said.
There's a lot that goes into preparing for the steer show, and it's more than just keeping your steer "pretty". Henry has to keep his steer, Stetson, relaxed with fans, water, feed and continuous brushing.
And other kids like 11-year-old Colbie Fevold, of Tama County, take their steers out for a walk around the cattle barn.
"Usually he's not used to all these people," Fevold explained.
That's why she keeps a specific grip on her steer, Maverick's, rope.
Colbie also said she makes sure "to keep Maverick's head up, because if their head's low, they will try to lay down."
And lying down is what they'll be doing until Saturday afternoon, when the Governor's Charity Steer Show takes place.