Pie Auction & BBQ raises $16,250 for this year’s Ramona Junior Fair
The Ramona Junior Fair’s annual pie auction and barbecue raised $16,250 with sales of everything from pies and brownies to Mrs. Toth’s famous chocolate chip cookies and gift baskets .
The event held on June 1st benefits the Ramona Junior Fair, which will be held this year from Friday, July 19 to Saturday, July 27.
A jar of Mrs. Toth’s world-famous chocolate chip cookies fetches top dollar at auction for the Ramona Junior Fair.
(Julie Gallant)
The funds help pay judges who evaluate animals during the fair, Ramona Junior Fairgrounds maintenance fees, scholarships and awards, said Travis Scott, vice president of the Ramona Junior Fair.
“This is our largest fundraiser to support the fair,” said Scott, who has been attending the fair since the early 1990s. “It’s what keeps us running for kids ages 4- H, from the FFA and from Grange. This is what gives us the funding to operate and manage the fair.
The Ramona Junior Fair is organized and run by volunteers, including community leaders and participating 4-H, FFA and Grange clubs.
The 53rd fair kicks off at the fairgrounds next to the Ramona Outdoor Community Center with children under 9 showing their small animals, then ramps up on Monday, July 22 with older children showing large animals. Throughout the event, judges will award ribbons to sheep, pigs, goats, steers, turkeys and rabbits.
Toward the end of the fair, Grand Champion awards are given to the top animal in that breed, followed by Reserve Grand Champion awards, Scott said. The fair culminates with an animal auction on Saturday, July 27.
The Ramona State Fair, hosted by the Ramona Chamber of Commerce, adjacent to the Ramona Junior Fairgrounds at the Ramona Outdoor Community Center, will run from Friday, July 26 through Sunday, July 28.

Jennifer Parker, left, a Julian and Santa Ysabel 4-H and Ramona FFA alumna, checked out the desserts with 4-H member Carrie Vincent.
(Julie Gallant)
The pie auction and barbecue began with a barbecue dinner of tri-tip, dinner rolls, beans, potato salad and macaroni salad at the Ramona Rodeo Grounds Pavilion on Aqua Lane. The barbecue raised additional funds for the Junior Fair, but the total was not available at press time.
Donations of desserts prepared by families of 4-H, FFA and Grange members began at 9 a.m. and continued most of the day. Bidding on the 89 items up for auction began around 5 p.m.
The Toth Family Cookies, traditionally baked by Ramona resident Sharon Toth, alone typically sell for about $1,500 each year and total auction sales can reach more than $20,000 each year, Scott said .
This year, Toth’s daughter, Karen Phillips-Toth, and granddaughter, Katie Phillips, brought a jar of world-famous chocolate chip cookies and Mrs. Toth’s Awesome Bars, a caramel chocolate bar and with oats.
“Whatever cookies bake for the fair is fine with me,” Phillips-Toth said before the auction began. The cookies went on to fetch $1,475.

Sharon Toth’s daughter, Karen Phillips-Toth, left, and her granddaughter, Katie Phillips, brought the family the famous chocolate chip cookies.
(Julie Gallant)
No changes are expected in how the fair will operate this year since the Ramona Municipal Water District has changed how the fairgrounds and adjacent facilities are supervised, Scott said. About a year ago, water district directors voted unanimously to hire a full-time park and facilities administrator to oversee the operation of Wellfield Park and related facilities. They also authorized the creation of a seven-member Parks and Recreation Community Advisory Committee to advise the water district on parks and recreation.
“We will continue to operate as we always have, which is 100 percent volunteer, with all volunteers,” Scott said. “Many of us are the second or third generation of children who now participate in fairs. Either we participated in the Youth Fair or our parents did.

Kelly Williams of Lakeside, left, joins Ramona resident Doreen Smith, center, and her sister, Michelle Stanley, at the auction.
(Julie Gallant)
Over the years, the Ramona Junior Fair has been the scene of many relationships, said Scott, who grew up near former fair administrator Mary Martineau. Scott said his mother introduced Martineau to her husband Curtis Martineau, now the fair’s livestock superintendent, at the fair.
Scott’s brother, Tyler Scott, met his wife, Rachael Scott, at the fair, he said. And Athena Hawkins Wolfe, who chairs the pie auction and barbecue, met her husband, fair board member John Wolfe, at the fair. Fair
Administrator Danielle Upson, an agriculture teacher at Ramona High School, met her husband, Ben Upson, while she was showing animals at the fair, Scott said.
Fundraising for the Ramona Junior Fair will be boosted through the sale of a framed Ramona Junior Fair poster. This year’s artwork was designed by Maverick Engelhart of Minneapolis-based Maverick Design Group.
“His works are known throughout the livestock community,” Scott said. “We will be selling our first framed poster at auction.”

From left: 4-H representative Shayla Haggerty, 4-H alumnus Morgan Nelson, FFA representative Chase Nickens and auctioneer Ryan Cantner.
(Julie Gallant)
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