The San Miguel Basin Fair got off to an early start this year with the new shooting competition on July 7. After a week of horse and livestock shows, as well as the dessert contest and other events at the San Miguel County Fairgrounds, it wraps up this weekend and sets the stage for the San Miguel Basin Rodeo on July 26-27.
As usual, the dessert competition was very well attended and always as sweet as ever with 69 entries in total, including 37 made by children.
Participants could enter the competition by submitting pies, cakes, cookies and ice cream. While cookies were divided into five categories, including rolled cookies, rolled cookies and filled cookies, only four of them were in competition. This year, only two ice cream categories were in competition.
Grand Champion ribbons were awarded to Tammie Gillaspie, Shannon Reeder, Carla Guitierrez Ruiz and Kalibur Merrill (youth).
The big winners of the champion cake were Melissa Richardson, Karla Guitierrez Ruiz, Joey Zikor and Kalese Merrill (youth).
The ice cream category featured a youth grand champion, Layton Harrigan, with his vanilla and pumpkin ice cream, and an adult grand champion, Sarah Holguin, with her rhubarb and peach ice cream.
Grand Champion ribbons in all four cookie categories were awarded to Dawna Morris, Paige Franklin, Sarah Franklin and Brylea Butler (youth).
When the Norwood Post spoke with San Miguel Basin (SMB) Fair Board Chair Makayla Gordon on Wednesday, she was feeling positive.
“So far, we’ve had a really good start. The kids have gained a lot of momentum, starting with the sport shooting event a few weeks ago,” she said. “We’re really looking forward to…the kids being able to show off their hard work.”
Much of this work is visible at show, breeding and market exhibitions, as well as in general projects.
This year’s fair featured some new features. The shooting competition was organized at the request of local youth. In addition, the fair management organized special activities for young people every day.
Last year, 4H coordinator Annika Kristiansen noticed that kids had a lot of free time in the afternoons, Gordon said.
“There are a lot of activities in the evenings, but otherwise the kids are there to feed and care for their animals during the day,” she said. “Last year, they organized some of their own activities, and we wanted to support them.”
The council suggested activities such as dance classes and capture the flag.
In addition to general fair events and special activities, the council also hosts a horse show each year on the first Saturday of fair week, the heifer catching contest, and a new event for young competitors, the chicken catching contest.
On Wednesday, the council brought in representatives from Colorado State University (CSU) to lead a workshop on carcass meat quality.
Gordon explained that CSU representatives introduced 4H youth to ultrasound technology to determine the quality of meat from a live animal before slaughter.
“We assess the situation ‘on the rail’ after slaughter,” Gordon continues. “Both methods look primarily at the fat-to-meat ratio. They also look at overall health.”
Saturday begins with the round robin demonstration competition, followed by the barbecue at 11:30 a.m., organized by Kinikin Artisan Butchery and Processing in Montrose. The annual 4H Livestock Sale is held the same day after the heifer catching competition at 1 p.m.
The fair isn’t just for 4H and Future Farmers of America members. Adults and youth who aren’t registered can display their work in categories like food, sewing, artwork, crafts, photography, jewelry, woodworking, leatherwork and more.
The open fair moved to a new location this year.
“The open fair was moved this year from the school to the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Annex to be closer to the fairgrounds, in hopes there will be more foot traffic,” said DeeAnna Burbridge, San Miguel County Fairgrounds coordinator.
The 4H general projects will be on display at the same time as the projects open at the fair. The public will be able to discover the projects open at the fair on Friday, July 19, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday, July 20, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
All other shows are held at the San Miguel County Fairgrounds Events Center. More information about the San Miguel Basin Fair can be found on Facebook.
