The Nevada County Fair begins on Wednesday, but one coveted event is off the schedule this year. H5N1, or the bird flu, has canceled the dairy and poultry shows.

But support is out there for the kids who spent time and money on raising their birds for the big day, which won't come.

"The [U.S. Department of Agriculture], [California Department of Food and Agriculture] put out a ban on all poultry shows, meaning we can't have our show at the fairgrounds," said Katie Bielen, deputy manager for the Nevada County Fairgrounds.

Earlier this year, the CDFA put out a statement reading in part, "due to the continued spread of H5N1 bird flu in California, the state veterinarian has implemented a ban on all California poultry and dairy cattle exhibitions at fairs and shows immediately until further notice. This action is required to minimize the danger of exposing people and non-infected cows and birds to the disease."

Now that the fair is here, the ban hasn't been lifted and the young exhibitors are feeling disappointed.

"Because it's my first year and I was just kinda bummed that I couldn't bring him," said 9-year-old Wesley, talking about his turkey.

Wesley has been raising his turkey, Harold, for months. He said that he's now selling raffle tickets for the bird instead, "just trying to make a profit and get some good meat off him."

"We've got to do something. What are we going to do to help people know they need to support these kids? They raised birds, and you know the price of feed is definitely not cheap," said Hannah Meyer, a poultry leader.

Meyer regularly works with kids like Wesley. She started an online fundraiser to offset costs and the community showed up in a big way.

"We've had enough donations to cover the costs of raising their birds and buying them but not the cost of the hours spent," she said.

Fair officials said there were extra steps to take to continue with the show, but the criteria weren't reachable for them. So the roughly 60 young exhibitors will have to wait until next year.

"I'm a poultry farmer also, so I get it. It's tough, but the flu is the flu, and we can't really change that," Bielen said.

"Even without getting to go through with the auction because of all the red tape and the timing and decisions and all that, they still get to see that people want to support them, and that's really cool," Meyer said.

The Nevada County Fair runs August 6-10.