{"id":41487,"date":"2022-03-27T04:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-03-27T10:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/more-local-vendors-than-ever-at-ag-expo\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:01:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:01:26","slug":"more-local-vendors-than-ever-at-ag-expo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/more-local-vendors-than-ever-at-ag-expo\/","title":{"rendered":"More local vendors than ever at ag expo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Christina
Christina Stevens, left, and Shelby Robinson, right, debut their wood workings at the Four States Agricultural Exposition in Cortez.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Montezuma County Fairgrounds teemed with visitors amid warm weather Saturday, temperatures climbing into the 70s as the second day of the Four States Agricultural Exposition commenced.<\/p>\n

Tractor trains whizzed by carrying children. Cattle grumbled in the background. Agriculture and equestrian presentations captured the culture of rural living.<\/p>\n

And vendor attendance was higher than ever. Many local artisans, makers and bakers made their debut at the 40th annual event.<\/p>\n

This year, there were 77 vendors, 12 new from the Cortez Farmers Market, organizer Cindy Clare told The Journal<\/em> ahead of the event.<\/p>\n

For instance, Josephine Wilson is no stranger to running a booth at the expo. But this year was the first she was representing her own custom leather work business: Firedrake Arts.<\/p>\n

It all started with a small leather pouch she received as a child from Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wore it around every day for years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

One day, she decided to learn how to make her own.<\/p>\n

She started with moccasins, and has expanded her repertoire to fashion items like gun and knife casings and jewelry. YouTube was her teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really suits the area,\u201d she said of her art.<\/p>\n

On one side of Wilson was her cousin, Regina Buchholz, selling her baked goods at her own booth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in the kitchen since I could walk,\u201d Buchholz said.<\/p>\n

\"Cousins
Cousins Josephine Wilson and Regina Buchholz present their own goods at the ag expo for the first time.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Before her sat an array of cookies, brownies and other treats. At first, her business, Homemade Country Girl, was all about earning an income, but passion soon followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just love sharing homemade taste from scratch made with love,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A family of creators, the cousins were also selling apple cider from their relatives Rick and Gerri Goodall of Bountiful Ridge Farm, as well as landscape postcards from Cassandra Goodall.<\/p>\n

To the other side of Wilson was her aunt Becky Busing, who is working on establishing a local chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a health organization that promotes clean eating and consuming less highly-processed, refined foods.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are what you eat, and food is medicine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut, she said, have a score of health benefits. Busing makes her own for sale.<\/p>\n

\"Becky
Becky Busing holds her homemade kimchi.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Busing taught a workshop on fermented food at the expo.<\/p>\n

John Davis, of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5231, told The Journal <\/em>about the organization\u2019s poppy drive, which funds most of the post\u2019s relief fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything goes straight to the veterans for help for whatever they may need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The poppies are made by disabled vets. The flower is an emblem of memorial in many countries throughout the world.<\/p>\n

The symbolism is derived from a poem by Col. John McCrae, who wrote about those who fought and died in France during World War I. A handout from the VFW featured McCrae\u2019s poem, which opens with the line \u201cIn Flanders Fields, the poppies blow\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

The poppy drive will continue at the Four Corners Home and Garden Show.<\/p>\n

Laura Sparling is in her first year of her business Bella Creations making candles with her husband.<\/p>\n

\"Laura
Laura Sparling poses with her candles Saturday at the ag expo.<\/span>Kala Parkinson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of exciting,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is the first time we\u2019re working with everything ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sparling mixes unique candles. Some change scent midburn. Others use scents to play on stories from history. One candle even took the form of a shark. A percentage of proceeds from some candles go to first responders and military.<\/p>\n

Tina Duran is also a new business owner at the helm of Abeyta\u2019s Handmade Soaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and my fiance were talking about something we could do together that would just be fun,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Her natural soaps have served as a remedy for her son\u2019s eczema, she said.<\/p>\n

Around the building, visitors fluttered from booth to booth, learning about the industries and organizations that represent the culture of Cortez and the Four Corners.<\/p>\n

The exposition will continue Sunday with a church service, an antique tractor display, agricultural and equestrian presentations and more chances for children to catch chickens and win ice cream eating contests. County band Ray Young Country Feedback will play throughout the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

artisans and creators invited to this year\u2019s Four States Agricultural Exposition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,568,28,167,29,445],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-events","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","tag-newsletter","tag-newsletter-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41487","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=41487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84984,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41487\/revisions\/84984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41487"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}