Report from the Fair: Poultry on Thursday — More Fun on Friday

Report from the San Juan County Fair
By Brigid Ehrmantraut

The fair is rolling along nicely. Other than some chilly breeze, all has been going well. Thursday was another full and rapidly spent day.

The morning was busy with sheep, poultry, dog and horse events. The afternoon progressed with goat, 4-H demonstrations, youth judging and more horse games. Large Animal Round Robin preparation was also held this evening. The Round Robin contest is held after general animal showmanship is completed, when the winners of each animal project in every age division compete with one another by showing EVERY creature considered large animal.

The Large Animal competition will be Friday at 3:00 pm. Small Animal Round Robin is also done this way, but with kids showing smaller critters, and will be held on Saturday at 11:00 am. After a Round Robin finalist is declared for each age group, all the winners of the ages compete together for the belt buckle award — a much sought after accomplishment.

Poultry winners this Thursday include Junior: San Juan’s Laura Brown; Intermediate: Wylie Kau of Orcas; Senior: Katie Gauthier from San Juan. Goat finalists were Junior: Adam Bates from Shaw and Intermediate: Macaulley Fowler from Lopez. These two were the only goat 4-Hers this year, so if you or your kids are interested in goat next year, please sign up!

Actually, there is a general decrease in large livestock at this fair, and more are encouraged. I know I’ll be doing goat in 2011 myself. Small animal recruits are always welcome too; cat members decreased to two this year, and cavy (guinea pig) projects are gradually growing. Rabbit and chicken were at a high this fair. We were running out of cages, but more are welcome and accommodations should be available. Pocket pets (rats, mice, hamsters, chinchillas, lizards, etc.) are a catagory as well; there just have to be enough kids!

Friday should be a fun day. Schedules are still busy. 4-H wise there’s some morning horse events, dog obedience starting around 9:00 am, interactive displays begining at 12:00, dog agility (always very enjoyable) in the early afternoon, Large Animal Round Robin at 3:00 pm, horse gaming all evening, and the small animal costume contest at 6:00 pm (everyone’s a winner in this fun themed and cute event).

The barns are open all day, and most have 4-H members on herdsmanship duty who are happy to answer any questions you might have and show you their animals!

Other events include live music throughout the day, the famous Zuccini 500 races every evening, Sheep to Shawl on Saturday, educational booths, food, rides (the Yoyo is back this year), and most other things you can think of!

See you at the fair! Don’t forget there is a fair shuttle that meets every ferry and goes up and back the 3/4 of a mile to the fair grounds (which can also make a nice walk)!

The San Juan County Fair runs through Saturday, Aug. 21.