PORT ANGELES — Clallam County’s annual fair draws visitors from all over Washington to eat food, go on rides, compete for ribbons and experience all that the classic event has to offer.
The fair attracts not only returners who come back year after year, but also newcomers.
Tracy Puhl of Seattle went to the fair for the first time on Friday to support her mom, who was performing ukulele.
Puhl said she wasn’t in town to go to the fair but just happened to be here on the same weekend.
“Sort of a lucky thing. A very lucky thing,” Puhl said. “So far, I love it.”
Teresa Grice of Sequim decided to go because of “involvement in the community [and to] see what they had here.”
Candi and Dale Arveson, also of Sequim, decided to visit “because we like fairs and we like fair food,” Candi said.
Visitors enjoyed the exhibitions that displayed Clallam County residents’ handiwork.
“We love looking at the exhibits,” Grice said.
Puhl said she loved “all the voting that you get to do. You get to participate.”
Visitors also enjoyed eating the food.
“I just had a fried peach, which was actually quite good,” Grice said.
Kathy Kreider of Port Angeles said the fair is an “annual thing” for her. This year, she brought newcomer Mike Davis of Point Roberts to the fair.
Kreider had a long list of things she loved about the fair: the horses, the rodeo, the demolition derby and the food.
Davis’ favorite part was the livestock.
“It’s interesting to see the sheep, horses [and] cows,” Davis said. “And I like the other little exhibits around here, and just down-home folk coming by.”
Puhl also loved the animals.
“I like how you have all the small-town animals and everything,” she said. “I think that’s beautiful. It’s nice to kind of preserve that. It’s like, the old-school stuff.”
A lot of people come to the fair for the animals — either to watch them or, more likely, to show them off.
Many were being shown by 4-H members like Anna-Marie Tax, who was showing her cat, Priscilla.
Anna-Marie Tax poses with the champion ribbon she won for decorating her cat Priscilla’s cage. (Dave Logan/For Peninsula Daily News)
Tax said she got “Princess Priscilla” for Christmas last year.
“Now, whenever I wake up in the morning, I just see a cat cuddling me,” Tax said.
Tax said she joined 4-H to show animals and win ribbons, like the champion ribbon that she won for decorating Priscilla’s cage.
Right behind and to the right of the cat barn is the dog barn, where visitors can stroll through and pet a variety of dogs, from English springer spaniels to Boston terriers.
This year, Eliana Andovam of Port Angeles is showing her 4-year-old border collie, Snoopy.
Andovam, who is part of the Silver Spurs 4H Club, is showing Snoopy for the first time. She said she’s excited to see what happens and hopes to do it again in the future.
The rabbit barn is another hopping place. Gage Erickson and Krisopher Giffin both were showing or auctioning rabbits on Friday.
Gage Erickson poses with his rabbit in the rabbit barn at the Clallam County Fair on Friday. (Dave Logan/ For Peninsula Daily News)
“I’m excited to show, because last year I got champion,” Giffin said. “And then for auctioning I made $1,000 off of one rabbit.”
Erickson said when he showed rabbits last year, he got “like eight grand champions.”
Marella Coff, part of Lambchops 4H Club, has five goats at the fair this year.
Coff is showing two of those goats — her Nigerian dwarf Cinnamon and her miniature silky fainting goat Danny Boy, who flops over when he’s scared, Coff said.
“I think he [Danny Boy] is gonna do pretty well,” Coff said. “I’m hoping to get grand champion.”
Coff said she will definitely keep showing at the fair in the future.
“Me and my brother are already planning what we’re gonna do,” she said.
Neveah McNeill, a member of East Clallam Livestock Club, is showing two pigs at the fair for the first time.
Last year, McNeill showed bunnies. She said she decided to switch to pigs because “it gives a kind of responsibility, so then I don’t just sit around all day.”
McNeill said she already got one champion ribbon for her pig Bingo, but she’s hoping to get “the big champion ribbon.”
“It’s kind of hard and kind of easy to show a pig,” McNeill said.
She said the hard part is trying to get the pig into the arena, but the easy part happens once you get into the arena.
Adults also get involved in showing animals. Paige Horseman and Baylee Linde, friends who ride at the same barn, entered their horses in the fair.
Paige Horseman poses with her horse, Candy, at the Clallam County Fair on Friday. (Dave Logan/For Peninsula Daily News)
Horseman has been showing her horse, Candy, since she was 9.
“She [Candy] has been doing it for a really long time,” Horseman said.
Linde is showing her horse, Beau, for the second year.
“He’s blossomed a lot since last year,” Horseman said.
Both individuals participated in a showmanship competition Friday morning. Horseman and Candy won grand champion, while Linde and Beau got second place.
Children and adults also enter their arts, crafts, produce and other products in the exhibits to be judged by fair personnel.
Sally Harris of Sequim entered her photo of a tribal canoe and won best of show, best of division in photojournalism and first place in photography.
Harris used sepia tone for her photo, which she said “evokes the feel of a vintage photograph, while the canoe filled with youth symbolizes a connection between the past, present and future.”
She said she was “deeply moved to tears” when her piece won.
Everyone at the fair said they plan to come back.
“I highly recommend it,” Kreider said.
“It’s the best fair in Clallam County,” Davis said.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
