Pigs, rodeos and flying chickens

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Pigs, rodeos and flying chickens

Montezuma County Fair invites public to enjoy ‘Living the Country Life’ theme

Thursday, July 28, 2011 6:01 AM

The Montezuma County Fair kicks off this weekend with a packed schedule promising country fun for everyone in attendance.

This years fair, with its theme Living the Country Life, is designed to show off the best of Montezuma County youth involvement in agriculture. The week-long event, June 29 through Aug. 6, features an array of events and competitions centered around agriculture and sport.

The fair really gives people the opportunity to support the kids and the community, said fair board President Allen Whited. People got to get out there and see what these kids work all year to do, and the kids get to show that they know how to do this stuff and they have responsibility.

The fair board has been working for the past year to ensure this years fair surpasses all other county fair experiences, and Whited is confident visitors will be pleased with what they see.

We think we are going to have a really good show this year for people, he said. Our goal is really just to get a lot of people out to the fairgrounds.

Visitors to the fair will see some old favorites and some new events this year. The newest feature is the rough stock rodeo at 7 p.m. this Friday and Saturday, organized by Lucky 7 Rodeos out of Ignacio. The rodeo is open to the public, allowing participation from Montezuma County residents.

The return of the paintball competition, 1 p.m. Saturday, June 30, and Sunday, June 31, is also an exiting feature for this years fair.

We are hoping to really see a lot of young people at the paintball tournament, Whited said. That is a good event.

Youth involvement in the fair is captured in the vast amount of 4-H projects that will be on display throughout the week. More than 200 youths will participate in the fair through the dog show, fashion revue, fine arts, and livestock competitions.

Fair allows the kids an opportunity to complete and show off their projects, said 4-H Program Coordinator Tonya Yates. The kids work hard, and the fair is the culmination of all of that.

The culmination of the fair, the junior livestock sale, will be held in the main barn at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6, and will offer members of the community a chance to support area agriculture through the purchase of a fair animal.

Open class competitions will fill the fairgrounds, giving county residents a chance to show off their prized petunias, crafts skills in needle work, photography, weaving and woodworking, and their own livestock projects.

The Friday, Aug. 5, schedule is full of fun for the whole family with events that benefit many of the 4-H clubs in the county. A chicken flying contest, jalapeno eating contest, pet parade and United Blood Services blood drive give fair visitors a chance to participate in the fair without bringing along a favorite cow.

The yearly ranch rodeo will take place Friday.

Entertainment at the fair will be in the form of a concert Friday night featuring Artie Hemphill and the Iron Horse Band, and Bill Babnick and 44 Mag.

Fair board member Rodney Cox hopes the fair will meet expectations this year and gives much credit to county workers who care for the fairgrounds throughout the year.

I really think we are going to have a good event this year, Cox said. The guys out there who work for the county really have the place looking nice, and we have got a lot of entries with kids and their projects. Im excited for the fair. It is going to be a good one.

For more information, including an online schedule, visit the fair website at www.montezumacountyfair.com or call 565-3123.

Reach Kimberly Benedict at [email protected].

Ride a mini bull

Bulls, broncs and bares make their debut at the Montezuma County Fair this weekend when Ignacio-based Lucky 7 Rodeos brings their rough stock rodeo to the fairgrounds.
The newest addition to the fair, the rodeo is designed to pack a punch, offering the highlights of a rodeo in a two-hour time frame. The event, 7 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, will include the most crowd-pleasing events that exist in rough stock: bull riding, bareback riding, and bronc riding.
With a little mutton busting and miniature bull riding thrown in for good measure, an entertaining rodeo clown and lights and music, Bulls, Broncs and Bares is bound to delight audience members.
We try to do just a two-hour rodeo to pack all the action into a short period, said Lucky 7 owner Becky Hawkins. With rodeos, youve got to make the crowd and your contestants happy, and this event does both.
The open-class rodeo allows participants from outside the regular rodeo circuit, offering a unique rodeo experience. Novice bull riding allows riders with little experience to try their hand for eight seconds of glory, while the open bull riding will introduce the crowd to professional riders from Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.
There is also a category for youths interested in rodeo. Lucky 7 provides mini bulls, 32 inches or smaller, for those 13 and younger who want to try their hand at bull riding.
The mini buckers are a lot of fun for the audience because you have kids on these little bulls, said Ty Hawkins, Lucky 7 manager. They will wear helmets and vests and mouth pieces and chaps and really look like little bull riders.
Both Ty and Becky said the grand entry each night is also entertaining for the crowd, with a bucking horse entry, where the bucking equines are turned out in the ring to show their skills.
It is really cool and the crowd usually loves it, Ty Hawkins said.
Montezuma County Fair board member Rodney Cox said the impetus behind the addition of the rodeo was to draw a larger crowd to the fairgrounds.
We dont usually have anything going on that first weekend, and we wanted to add something new and different, Cox said. It might take us a couple of years to get it going and get people interested in it, but we are hoping it will really increase interest in the fair.
The Hawkins said their rodeos are usually popular events, and they have seen attendance increase at the La Plata County Fair event they run, as well as the Tuesday night rodeos they sponsor in Durango.
Our rodeos in Durango are getting really full, and we think we are figuring out what makes the crowd happy, Becky Hawkins said. It is a great way to start getting the kids interested in animals and helps promote the cowboy way to people who arent necessarily into it. Its a great introduction to the fair.
The Bulls, Broncs and Bares rodeo will be at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for youths under 12, and $25 for a family of four. Tickets for seniors over 65 are $7 and children under six are admitted free.
For more information, visit www.montezumacountyfair.com/Bulls-Broncs/Bares.html, or call 565-3123.

Reach Kimberly Benedict at [email protected].