Etelka Feher brings heritage and FFA pride to the fair

Etelka Feher brings heritage and FFA pride to the fair

Look closely at Etelka Feher’s Dodge County Fair project, and you’ll find more than 50 hours of painstaking beadwork. You’ll find family heritage, FFA leadership, memories from childhood, and a craft that has become a way for her to connect with people.

The 16-year-old Waupun FFA president is attending the Dodge County Fair in Beaver Dam for the first time, this year. She decided to enter a beaded cowboy-style hat as a way to become more involved and explore another side of agriculture. “I wanted to branch off and experience all the different sides of agriculture and make connections,” Etelka said.

The hat is packed with meaning. Etelka’s Mexican heritage inspired the glass seed-bead design around the rim, which resembles a rattlesnake. The crown features a rising sun, chosen because it’s the symbol of an FFA president and represents “a new day.”

She added another personal touch with goose feathers she found at Horicon Marsh while the sun was rising. The project took approximately 50 hours to complete, with the rim consuming the most time.

However, Etelka’s love of beading began years before she ever imagined bringing a project to the fair. During a family trip to South Dakota, she learned the sandwiching technique from a teenage member of the Lakota Nation. She returned home eager to continue and asked her parents for a beading loom. Later, when she wanted to create wider projects, her father built her a custom trapezoid-shaped loom.

Beading also connects Etelka to her Hungarian heritage. Her family has attended the Hungarian Gulyas Festival in Norridge, Illinois, where she saw the craft celebrated within Hungarian culture. “Beading is a universal art,” Etelka said. “Many countries like India, Africa, and more do some sort of beading.”

She has made bracelets, beaded chickens, and other creations -- often giving bracelets away as a way to build connections. Now she's eyeing bigger challenges, including a beaded tiara or three-dimensional feather project.

For Etelka, the appeal isn't just the finished piece. “My favorite part of beading is trusting the process and seeing the finished product.”

Visitors can see Etelka’s hat in the youth building during the 2026 Dodge County Fair through Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026.

Written by Dori Lichty -- farm wife, 4-H and FFA Mom, and full-time communicator