The sun beat down on the Berrien County Youth Fair’s show tent as dozens of children paraded themselves and their goats in a circle in front of a group of judges.

For one Niles girl, enduring the warm weather was worth it because she walked away with a prize.

13-year-old Kevina Clear of Niles won the title of Best Junior Showman from the 4-H Youth Dairy Goat Showmanship competition.

“I’m thrilled to win,” Clear said.

Born, raised and home-schooled in Niles, Clear has always loved the fair and looks forward to participating in it each year. In addition to showing goats, she sews and grows radishes for judging.

While most of what she does at the fair is done purely for enjoyment, for Clear, participating in the goat show comes with a healthy dose of competition. The youngest of seven children, was Clear is the last in her family to begin showing goats and participating in 4-H.

In addition to this, Clear has had a healthy rivalry with another girl participating in the dairy goat competition, who has won every year that Clear has competed.

“[The other girl] wins every year, but this year she was in a different group,” Clear said. “So, I thought this would be my year.”

These facts combined have left Clear with a want to prove herself, something she feels she accomplished this year.

“I feel great,” she said. “It really is nice [to win].”

Clear’s sunny victory is something of a miracle considering the history of her prize-winning goat, Princess.

The 3-year-old goat was born in the winter and was found by Clear’s family frozen and presumed dead. However, Clear and her family brought Princess into their home, warmed her up, and nursed her back to health over the course of a few weeks.

“She lived with us in house for a while,” Clear said. “She’s very special to me.”

Now, Princess is a healthy young goat able to train for and place in the goat show, something Clear was happy about.

“My family and I trained by walking the goat around and by asking me questions,” Clear said. “It went well and [Princess] did good.”

Clear plans to take her training from this year to compete next year, calling the probability of her competing again next year a certainty.

Though she would like to win best junior showman again, she does not believe she will.

“It would be nice, but I don’t really think it will happen,” Clear said. “I don’t know why.”