{"id":45208,"date":"2021-08-14T04:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-14T10:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-county-n-m-fair-returns\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:23:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:23:50","slug":"san-juan-county-n-m-fair-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-county-n-m-fair-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"San Juan County, N.M., Fair returns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Brothers
Brothers Leighton, 9, and Chandler, 7, Reeder, watch the Lamb Booster Class showmanship on Wednesday during the San Juan County Fair at McGee Park in Farmington. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FARMINGTON \u2013 As the San Juan County Fair comes to a close, new and returning competitors said they were happy to be back in the saddle after a year off because of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Billy Huish, a member of the volunteer San Juan County Fair Board, said board members weren\u2019t sure they were going to be able to hold a full fair until July 1, which was five weeks from the start of the fair. They knew there would be an animal show, but as soon as they got word they could have a full fair, Huish said the rush was on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a fun scramble, but we did it,\u201d Huish said.<\/p>\n

\"Bradley
Bradley Brady shows his lamb in the booster class Wednesday during the San Juan County Fair at McGee Park in Farmington. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

This year\u2019s event didn\u2019t have every aspect that past fairs have had, because board members didn\u2019t know until late whether the full event could be held. Even the fair book was missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil we get everybody back in the groove of a full-blown fair, then we can get a fair book out,\u201d Huish said.<\/p>\n

\"Peter
Peter Estes, 4, and his brothers Bobby, 8, center, and Jack, 5, eat cool treats Wednesday during the San Juan County Fair at McGee Park in Farmington. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The fair had a separate carnival section with rides and games. A stretch of walkway through the center of the fair was lined with food trucks. This year, a new feature captivated the attention of fair-goers as well as the 4-H volunteers \u2013 the Look \u2018n Lean Barn.<\/p>\n

The attraction featured animals of all kinds including goats, donkeys, a goose, puppies, a pony, cows, horses and a baby pig named Groot.<\/p>\n

While Groot stays in the safety of the Look \u2018n Learn Barn, over at the pig barn, Tammy King, mother of 10-year-old Bailey King, said this was the second year her daughter was competing. The first year, Bailey showed one pig and placed second. This year, Bailey showed three pigs, each in a different class of breed and weight and received two second-place ribbons, one fifth-place ribbon and a third-place ribbon for a separate category.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get to spend time with them and it\u2019s fun taking care of them,\u201d Bailey said.<\/p>\n

After raising the pigs, playing with them and having them be part of the family, Bailey and all the other 4-H kids have to face the music that their animal will probably end up at a butcher \u2013 something Bailey said still makes her a little sad.<\/p>\n

Bailey\u2019s grandfather, Brian Dils, said the reason the older generation involves the younger generation in the process is to teach them responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do it to teach responsibility to the young people, to know they have another life in their hands, and they\u2019ve got to feed it and water it and take care of it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd to also show them where our breakfast sausage comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dils said that doing so also allows the younger generation to learn a special appreciation for where their food comes.<\/p>\n

\"Gage
Gage Sanders, 5, washes his lamb before showing it with the help of his aunt, Kimberly Thompson, on Wednesday during the San Juan County Fair at McGee Park in Farmington. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt teaches them that they\u2019ve got to have respect for it, and make sure that you feed them correctly and ethically, but it just teaches them a life lesson to know that when you go to the grocery store, that that bacon and sausage, that\u2019s where that food comes from,\u201d Dils said.<\/p>\n

Dils said it is a little sad for the children and the families because they get attached to the animals. He added that each animal has its own personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people will think it\u2019s cruel, but we love them more than anybody,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just know that for the nutrition of our body, we gotta have them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the pigs are raised to be sold and butchered, Dils said the pigs live a happy life before they serve their \u201cpurpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

mmitchell@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carnival is back after being canceled last year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[799,28,443],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-san-juan-county-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45208","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=45208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86397,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45208\/revisions\/86397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45208"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}