BERRIEN SPRINGS — Usually when youth show their animals off at the Berrien County Youth Fair they are the ones who dress up for the performance, wearing sharp looking button-up shirts and a matching hat and cowboy boots.

But Wednesday in the Rabbit Tent, both animals and youth alike were dressed up for the judging of rabbits in costume.

One of this year’s first-place winners for the Junior Age Division was Adeline Wetzel, 11, of Buchanan. Wetzel dressed as the Cat in the Hat. Her crossbreed rabbit, Maxwell, was dressed as a fish in a fish bowl. With her trophy and ribbon by her side, Wetzel said she was happy to claim the title, which gave her the chance to compete for grand champion.

“[It was] shocking. I didn’t even know,” Wetzel said.

Wetzel, a student at St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Stevensville, said she brainstormed with her parents, Amy and Andrew, to think of eye-catching costumes that would work well for a pair. They initially thought of doing a peanut butter and jelly or milk and cookies costume, but settled on a Cat and the Hat costume.

Wetzel said they built the fish costume and the bowl for Maxwell from scratch, using a piece of circular wood, a shower curtain, metal rods and lots of tape and hot glue. Wetzel also hand sewed the stomach of the Cat and the Hat on to her costume and made an accompanying nose and whiskers.

This is Wetzel’s second year competing in the rabbit costume contest. At home, Wetzel has two rabbits, including Max, three cats, a dog and two fish. However, she said she hopes she can soon have a third rabbit. Wetzel also shows her rabbits in the showmanship and show competitions at the Berrien County Youth Fair.

“I just like showing them and keeping them as pets,” she said of her rabbits. “I don’t know why. I really like coming here early in the morning and staying up late – I don’t know why — and just sweeping up and feeling like a VIP.”

Taking home the second-place prize was Niles’ Wyatt Baker, 11. Baker,  a Buchanan Middle School student, dressed his New Zealand rabbit, Buddy, for the competition as a “harecrow” – a bunny version of the scarecrow. Buddy wore a pants and a tiny straw hat, which he did not seem to enjoy wearing, but liked to sniff. Baker himself dressed as a farmer and complemented his costume with a vase of corn stalks and crows and a sign that read “Harecrow fur sale.”

Baker credited his “Nana” Carol Tacy for helping him to come up with the idea. He said the costume took them a couple of days to pull together.

Baker lives on a ranch and his family raises and cares for horses. Baker said he enjoys taking care of animals and his family’s property and he hopes to one day turn that passion into a career and work as a farmer. He said his costume reflected this dream.

“I love tractors and driving tractors,” Baker said. “I love agriculture and learning about it.”