{"id":118857,"date":"2014-07-24T21:12:44","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T03:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/gobbling-up-the-montezuma-county-fair\/"},"modified":"2014-07-24T21:12:44","modified_gmt":"2014-07-25T03:12:44","slug":"gobbling-up-the-montezuma-county-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/gobbling-up-the-montezuma-county-fair\/","title":{"rendered":"Gobbling up the Montezuma County Fair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Bailey
Bailey Littlefield makes a face as she competes in the jalape\u00f1o-eating contest at the fair. This year the contest is Saturday at 10:30 a.m.<\/span>Journal File\/Sam Green<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Montezuma County Fair gets cooking next week. The first culinary event is a 4-H Club cake-decorating contest.<\/p>\n

Held inside the main barn, the cake-decorating competition is served at 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 29. The contest is open to 4-H Club members only.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe winner in each unit is eligible to go to the Colorado State Fair,\u201d said Montezuma County Extension assistant Cheryl Young.<\/p>\n

Unit 1, the rookies, include 8-year-old contestants, who have 30 minutes to frost the cake, apply design using edible materials, place the border and clean up their area. Competitors in Unit 7, professionals between the ages of 11 and 14, have an hour to decorate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey receive ribbons for winning at the county fair,\u201d said Young. \u201cThe Grand Champion of the contest also receives an embroidered duffel bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

The good times should continue to pop off with a bubble-blowing contest at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 31. For children of any age, the contest includes diving head-first into a pie tin filled with whip cream in search of a piece of bubble gum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever finds the gum and blows a bubble first wins,\u201d said Sheri Noyes, of Kalvin\u2019s Kids 4-H Club.<\/p>\n

Later that day, prepare to have your gourd blown with the inaugural largest squash competition at 2 p.m. The Alpaca 4-H Club sponsors the fun community event inside the main barn.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny type of squash is eligible,\u201d said Nancy Nelligan. \u201cBring your squash out, and we\u2019ll weigh it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nelligan encouraged growers to check under their squash leaves for a potential winner, because in addition to bragging rights, the winner receives a certificate of authenticity.<\/p>\n

Next up, entries for the chili and salsa competition are accepted inside the main barn at 4 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 1. The public is invited to taste and judge the spicy stews and sauces at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

According to the county fair entry form, chili must be contained in a working crock pot and can contain any kind of meat or combination of meats cooked with chili peppers, various spices and other ingredients, such as beans. The entry form describes salsa, which must be contained in a plastic container at least 7 inches in diameter, as a spicy sauce of chopped, usually uncooked vegetables or fruit, especially tomatoes, onions and chili peppers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach contestant must provide two quarts of competition chili or salsa to be submitted for judging,\u201d said county fair board member Kathi Marler.<\/p>\n

Judged by the public, the competition is based on flavor, texture, consistency, blend of spices, aroma and color. First-and second-place prizes will be awarded for best chili and best salsa.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Aug. 2, the fair heats things up with a jalape\u00f1o-eating contest at 10:30 a.m. Sponsored by the Bunnies and More 4-H Club, the competition starts with 10 pickled jalape\u00f1o peppers on a paper plate. (Say that three times fast).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see who can eat the most jalape\u00f1os in 10 minutes,\u201d said Barbara Zeutzius. \u201cWe have a category for men, women and kids 12 and under.\u201d<\/p>\n

In previous years, the contest wasn\u2019t timed. Zeutzius recalled a woman eating about 30 peppers in 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfterward, lots of people have said, \u2018I shouldn\u2019t have done that,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Zeutzius said competitors were allowed to drink or eat any other foods they wish during the contest inside the main barn. Several prizes are up for grabs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have trash cans nearby,\u201d said Zeutzius. \u201cSome people can\u2019t keep them down.\u201d<\/p>\n

A corn-shucking contest starts at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2. Sixteen teams of four are slated to shuck 750 ears of corn for a traveling trophy.<\/p>\n

The corn will be included in a chuck wagon dinner held that evening under the grandstands. The dinner bell rings at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur annual chuck wagon dinner has become one of the most popular events of the fair, said Montezuma County Fair board president Todd King. \u201cThis year, we are expecting 750 guests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tickets are $15 per plate. Joining fresh shucked corn on the menu, smoked brisket or pulled pork prepared by Jimmer\u2019s Back Country BBQ, local pinto beans donated by Jack Tanner, along with rolls and peach cobbler made with flour donated by Cortez Milling. Seconds will be served if available.<\/p>\n

No gastronomic experience would be complete without a sugary treat, so plan to bring a doggy bag in case you win the dessert auction at 6 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Southwestern Cowbells.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dessert auction is always a glorious mix of pies, cakes, cookies, breads, jams, and when all the stars align, chokecherry syrup,\u201d said King.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

menu: Salsa, jalape\u00f1os, squash, barbecue and desserts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[640,13,805,60],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-118857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-award-and-prize","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-gastronomy","tag-montezuma-county"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118857"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=118857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}