From left to right: Jase Mattox, Bryce Hasty, Joe Paxton and Justin Mattox. Monday, June 12, 2023.
HANCOCK COUNTY — The Hancock County 4-H Fair returns to the fairgrounds June 23-30, and 18-year-old Bryce Hasty wouldn’t miss it for the world.
This will mark his 10th and final year in 4-H, a tradition that’s been carried through his family for generations.
His great-grandfather, Bill Paxton, showed off tractors at the Indiana State Fair’s Pioneer Hall for decades, and was also instrumental in running Pioneer Hall at the Hancock County fairgrounds.
Bryce’s mother, Michelle Hasty, was the Hancock County 4-H Fair Queen in 1992 and has helped run the annual pageant since 2005.
“I’ve been going to the Hancock County fair since I was an infant, and my kids have been going since they were infants,” said Hasty, whose family could very well be considered a Hancock County farming dynasty.
Her great-great grandfather, William “Billy” Beaver, born in 1883, spent his life farming in the Fortville area before he passed away in 1966.
His son-in-law, Paul Paxton, born in 1903, farmed in the McCordsville area.
His son, William “Bill” Paxton, born in 1930, carried on the family farming tradition, which he passed on to his son — Hasty’s father, Joe Paxton, who has expanded the family farm into a giant farming operation known as Paxton Enterprises.
Like many farm families, it’s teamwork that makes the dream work for the Paxton family, who grow corn, sweet corn and soybeans in thousands of acres of fields in McCordsville, Maxwell, Pendleton, Greenfield and Eden.
Joe and his wife Patty work side-by-side with their daughter, Michelle, and her husband, Scott, and his cousin’s son, Justin Maddox and wife April, along with their children.
“He’s like another brother to me,” Hasty said of Mattox, 44, who has been involved with the family farm since the mid-1990s.
All three families live within a two-mile radius of one another.
While the women in the family are less hands-on with the day-to-day farming operation, they make sure to keep the farmers fed by running meals out to them on their tractors and helping move equipment from field to field.
The family often works the fields until dark after working other full-time jobs throughout the day.
Mattox is a firefighter in Fishers; his wife is the school nurse for Eastern Hancock schools. Hasty is a teaching assistant at Maxwell Intermediate School; her husband is an optometrist.
Her brother Joe, a teacher and coach at Eastern Hancock High School, also chips in at the farm.
The family has already instilled a love for farming and 4-H into the next generation — the Hastys’ son, Bryce, and daughter, Kynzey, 16, and the Maddox’s sons, Noah, 13, and Jase, 11.
Bryce and Noah have already made their intentions clear to one day take over the family farm.
“It’s in their hearts and in their blood,” said Michelle Hasty, who couldn’t be prouder of the boys.
The family also shares a strong love for 4-H.
Bryce has shown livestock and has done a number of exhibits over the past 10 years, including building a farm model each year.
“It’s always been a good way to make friends,” said Bryce, who has also enjoyed attending 4-H camp, where he’s served as a counselor the past two years. “You’ll always remember those people you met at Camp Shakamak,” he said.
Noah and Jase enjoy breeding, raising and showing sheep through their family’s operation, 4M Farms.
“They have a blast. They love getting to hang around with all their friends (at fairs and sheep shows) and show off all they have been working on,” said their dad.
Bryce said 4-H has played a huge role in teaching him both agricultural and people skills, two things he knows are essential in running a family farm.
“I’ve always had an interest in taking it over some day,” said the young man, who recently graduated from Greenfield-Central High School.
“It’s never really been a job for me. It’s kind of been my getaway from reality. I’ve discovered I like being up to see the sun come up from the tractor and later see it go down from the tractor, usually from the same exact view.”
Bryce got his start helping out on the farm from a young age, riding through the fields with his dad and papaw. “I’d hand them tools or hold a flashlight or whatever a 6-year-old can do,” he recalled.
He’d later help pick rocks from the fields and would soon be driving tractors himself, picking up more responsibilities each year.
“Now I pretty much do everything, and I’ve got some acreage of my own now too,” he said.
He also volunteers as a firefighter for Green Township in Hancock County and is working toward his Emergency Medical Technician license, and plans to attend firefighters school after that. He plans to be a full-time firefighter and farmer, just like Mattox.
He said he has a lot of respect in the farmers in his family who learned the ropes before him, and who have taught him everything he knows.
“I look up to my grandfather for the way he’s been able to keep growing our family farm, so we can keep doing what we all love and cherish,” Bryce said.
His grandfather is thankful to have future generations follow in his footsteps, who are interested in keeping the rich tradition alive.
“It feels good to know they are interested in taking over when I slow down,” said Paxton, 69, who has been in love with farming ever since he was a kid.
