By Gary Massaro
Shannon Wentz, 11, of Strasburg and her sheep Maggie won a ribbon in breeding sheep.
AURORA – A microburst hammered vendors just before the Arapahoe County Fair opened to the public July 21.
Bent, broken, twisted aluminum frames were all that was left of some tents.
The public didn’t seem to notice that the quick-hit storm had done anything other than leave a few puddles on the grounds.
Youngsters didn’t seem to notice anything other than the sights, sounds and feel, such as the smooth texture of face paint, the soft fur of young animals in the petting zoo.
The crowd meandered through all the stuff – exhibits, vendors, carnival rides and games, food avenue.
Many were greeted by the mascots – Parker Pig, Henry Horse and Connie Cow. The fair was billed this year as Barnyard Boogie.
These cousins were among a throng of youngsters who had their faces painted at the fair. They are, from left, Lexie Pope, 4, Kallie Barrett, 2, Katie Barrett, 4, and Ashley Pope, 7, back. Photo by Saundra Sweeney and Gary Massaro.
In the exhibit hall, Alannah Price, 9, of Aurora was getting a lesson in spinning and weaving from Jessie Hagen, a member of the Rocky Mountain Weavers Guild.
“I did a four-finger weave,” Alannah said. “I like being able to make my own necklace.”
Alannah’s parents, Gary and Betty Price, said they came to the fair because it’s all about family.
“I like the idea of being able to share the sights and sounds of the fair with my daughter, which reminds me of my own time as a child going to the fair in the South – Florida,” Gary said.
Over at a tent on the grounds’ north side, Outback Steakhouse owner Mark Moses and helper Natasha Roman were dishing out ribs, chicken and coleslaw to various chamber of commerce members who came to support the chair on Chamber Night.
Centennial’s First Gentleman, Jim Noon, attended the event with his wife, Cathy, the mayor.
“It’s Arapahoe County. It’s home,” Noon said. “We came to support our local endeavors. We’ve been here every year. And every year it gets bigger. You can find whatever recreation you want to find here – a good time, rides, games, talk to people, food.”
Outside the tent, a crew of roustabouts walks from steel tent peg to steel tent peg, using a sledgehammer to pound them deeper into the ground.
Brett Mosely, a self-described drifter from North Dakota, was wielding the sledge while trying to hold down an unruly tent flap that kept flipping in the breeze.
“I’m going back to North Dakota in about four months, when it gets good and cold to work the oil fields,” he said. “In winter, nobody wants to work. Jobs are plentiful.”
Just to the north of the tent in a vacant gravel lot was the backseat driver course.
The vehicle was a John Deere riding mower with trailer attached. Fair volunteer blonde Kacey Johnson of Aurora was sitting in the trailer, offering directions to blindfolded tractor driver Robert Eshelman, a volunteer from Centennial.
At times, Johnson stated directions. But mostly she hollered loudly.
The blonde leading the blind made it through without hitting any pedestrians.
To the west was the carnival. Jennifer Barrett came from Golden with her daughters, Katie, 4, and Kallie, 2.
Barrett’s nephew, Anthony Pope, 11, was showing sheep out of his 4-H club in Byers.
Katie and Kallie’s cousins, Ashley and Lexie Pope – 7 and 4 – rode some rides and had their faces painted.
“I came in support of my nephews and nieces,” Barrett said.
Outside the main exhibit hall, a new event drew scores of youngsters – the kids’ tractor pull. Kids rode peddle tractors with a weight-loaded contraption attached. The farther they peddled, the more a chain pulled the weights to the front of the trailer, making it a lot more difficult.
Kurt and Melissa Klepsa of Centennial were rooting for their daughters – Elisha, 7, and Kaitlyn, 9 – as they peddled in two lanes on a course 25 feet long.
“We came for the kids,” Kurt said. “We want them to see what a fair is about – the animals, the activities.”
Just to the west was the activities tent, with face painting and free marigolds supplied by Tagawa Gardens.
In another tent was a very popular attraction – a pool filled with trout and adults on hand to teach youngsters how to catch the finned creatures.
A little farther west were the vendors tents – as well as what was left of some of the tents that hadn’t weathered the storm.
“I got here around 3. There was a microburst,” said Dave Stark, owner of Franktown Tractors and Trailers.
He was standing within a yardstick of a visitor.
“It was such a torrential downpour that I wouldn’t have been able to see your or for you to see me,” Stark said. “I had my tent tied to four tractors. Rather than blow it away, the wind just broke it.”
In the livestock arena, 4-H youngsters were showing, getting ready to show or feeding animals they had just shown.
R.J. Adams, 14, of Bennett had a ribbon tacked to the lentil of a stall where his Nigerian dwarf goat, Blueberry, was munching and keeping watch on two kids.
R.J. said he had first seen goats on a trip to South Dakota. So he asked his parents, Gary and Denise Hopkins, if he could get some. They were reluctant, but relented after Adams promised to join a 4-H club.
And he learned more than how to feed, water and groom the animals.
“Being responsible is a good thing,” he said. “It helps you with life.”
Shannon Wentz, 11, of Strasburg was at the fair again this year. And this year she had a ribbon for goat breeding on the pen of her critter, Maggie.
The weekend entertainment featured headliners Sons and Brothers, a group out of Westcliffe.
And there was standard fare, like funnel cakes, and new things like deep-fried Twinkies and deep-fried Oreos, just the kind of things to get the sludge moving in the veins.
Also new was chicken on a stick and pork chop on a stick as well as the popular Dinosaur Ribs that went over in a big way.
Over at the petting zoo and old-time farm, kids were thrilled to pet furry kids and small porkers or cranks the handles on the hard-corn sheller and then either crank up another contraption to turn the kernels into shreds for chicken feed or flour for cornbread.
Whatever the reasons people gave for coming to the fair, Betty Price summed it up for a lot of them on why she and husband Gary brought their daughter, Alannah: “to explore things that are new to this city girl.”
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For more pictures from the fair, pick up this week’s Villager!
