PORT ANGELES – Amid smells of sawdust, feed and farm animals, dozens of white tents were erected at the Clallam County Fairgrounds on Wednesday to be ready for today’s opening.
When the gates open at 1608 West 16th St. at 8:30 a.m. today, the Clallam County Fair will begin a four-day celebration of the region’s agrarian skills.
“It’s all building up to opening day,” said Cyndie Stumbaugh of Sequim, the sheep barn supervisor.
“I know people wait every year for the fair.”
Youth members of 4-H and Future Farmers of America brought their animals to the fairgrounds the day before oepning, setting up the pens for their pigs and buckets of hay for horses.
The animals, including a pig named Princess with 10 piglets, were cleaned and groomed for an afternoon inspection and for judging later this week.
“For the kids, it’s just a real experience,” said Stumbaugh, who has been involved with 4-H for 24 years.
“This is kind of the culmination of what they’re been doing all year, and a chance to show off their project.”
Youth in 4-H learn about responsibility and caring by practicing animal husbandry and raising animals ranging from cattle to rabbits.
They show them to judges during the week and auction some of them on Saturday.
Winning a blue ribbon at the county fair is a ticket to the state fair, which will start Sept. 7 in Puyallup.
Ben Ohnstad, 16, of Sequim, has high hopes for this, his third year entering swine in the fair.
He decided to raise swine because they seemed like interesting animals, though he found they don’t have the intelligence or the personality that some people think.
“I thought it would be fun living on a farm, and when we moved to Sequim we started a small farm,” Ohnstad said.
The fair is what 4-H “is all centered around,” he said.
