Countdown to County Fair
16 reasons to visit the Fair
posted 08/12/03
NUMBER 1: WHERE ELSE CAN YOU SHARE MOMENTS LIKE THIS
The 2003 San Juan County Fair opens at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday, August 13).
FAIR SCHEDULE
AGRICULTURAL TENT EVENT SCHEDULE
posted 08/11/03
NUMBER 2: THE FOOD The fair including the food court opens Wednesday, August 13 and the food court. Berries and ice cream, elephant ears, corn dogs, PTA pies, burritos, spring rolls, cotton candy, the Kiwanis Battery D BBQ, the Lions Western Style Barbeque, the Little League's Salmon Dinner, and the Purple and Gold Steak Dinner, the list of edible items goes on and on. And new this year: deep fried twinkies. The Lions' Western Style Barbeque on Wednesday, August 13 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. includes Beef Brisket carved barbeque on a bun, potato salad, Boston baked beans, cole slaw. The cost is $9.
Kiwanis/Battery D BBQ menu on Thursday, August 14 includes: "Slow and True" BBQ Pork Shoulder or BBQ Country Sytle Beef Spare Ribs with Virginia Windage BBQ sauce. Corn on the cob, baked biscuit, and choice of coleslaw or Black Powder Smith's Cayenne Baked Beans. Cost is $8 or $12 for a jumbo plate with pork and beef ribs.
The Little League Association will serve salmon dinners on Friday, August 15 beginning at 5 p.m. The menu includes: local wild sockeye salmon, corn on the cob, cole slaw, baked beans, roll and lemonade. Cost is $10. Proceeds benefit San Juan Island Little League. One organizer said, "It feels better to be selling local salmon than candy bars."
The fund-raiser dinners wrap up with a steak dinner by the Friday Harbor High School Athletic booster club, the Purple and Gold on Saturday night.
posted 08/10/03
NUMBER 3: BRINGING IN THE HARVEST
Come visit the SJC Agriculture Tent at this year's SJC Fair! Start your fair day by weaving a cornucopia basket for your own harvest! The Cornucopia Craft Workshop will take place each day of the fair from 10:00am - noon and all afternoon on Wednesday. Materials and instructions for all ages and abilities will be provided. FULL STORY
SCHEDULE OF AG EVENTS
posted 08/09/03
NUMBER 4: LEARN ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY Artists and designers will share their visions of what life in our island communities can be like if we follow a sustainable path. The interactive display will be set up in the triangle area where the hay maze was located last year. MORE INFORMATION
posted 08/08/03
NUMBER 5: TEXTILES EXHIBIT Take a look at what talented seamstresses, knitters, crocheters, weavers and quilters finished in the past year. The Jim Crook building will be filled again this year with islanders' colorful creations.
posted 08/07/03
NUMBER 6: THE ANIMALS
From little piggies to large llamas, animals abound at the county Fair. Besides looking at the animals, you can bid on market hogs, market lamb, and market steers.
The 4-H Livestock Auction will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday August 16 in the 4-H arena. The 4-H arena is located by the livestock barns. The change of location will help the buyers see all the animals up close.
The 4-H youth work hard on their projects and work at putting a high quality meat out to the buyers. They participate in a carcass of Merit program so they can see what the quality of meat they are raising for the market.
Supporting the 4-H youth helps them to pay for the feed for their projects and purchase next year projects. One of the members (Michael GrosJacques) used his money to pay for feed and purchase a dairy heifer to start his own dairy projects. The kids work hard and all your support is helpful. You also will get high quality meat in your freezer. The 4 H youth thank all our previous buyers and hope to see you again.
Marty Robinson, Deborah Nolan, Sue Nielsen, Pamela Williams, Binney Haenel and Staci Baker prepared pies for the PTA Pie Booth while first-grader Max Haenel kept track of the number of cups of fruit. posted 08/06/03
NUMBER 7: THE PIE BOOTH One of the fair's most delicious traditions, the PTA Pie Booth is located at the end of the food court. Last year the volunteers baked 101 pies, this year they will prepare 105 fresh fruit pies - peaches, raspberry, rhubarb. The pies are sold by the slice and can be ordered ala mode. This year there will be some gluten-free pies.
posted 08/05/03
NUMBER 8: HORSE GAMES Participants in the horse events have a long week at the fair. They check in on Monday, August 11 and competition begins on Tuesday. (The fair runs Wednesday through Saturday). A complete list of all the horse events is posted on the FAIR WEB SITE
Check out the photo pages from last year's horse events.
posted 08/04/03
NUMBER 9: THE FAIRGROUNDS ARE LOOKING BETTER THAN EVER
The fairgrounds are looking better than ever. Fair Manager Christine Miller credits Rev, Jim (especially Jim), Carol, volunteers like the 4H folks, contributions from contractors – Butler Creek, Mike Carlson, Brown Building, and the San Juan County Sheriff's Work Crew with "making the fairgrounds look and feel great." FULL STORY
posted 08/03/03
NUMBER 10: TURN TRASH INTO PRIZE WINNING ART
The county's Solid Waste Advisory Committee invites young and old to enter an
inspired, functional or decorative, possibly wearable or musical, mixed media,
sculpture, furniture, mobile, etc. masterpiece in the new TRASH TO TREASURE booth. Artworks must be made primarily of recycled or reused material. In addition to ribbons and the usual cash awards, four awards of $25 each will be awarded by SWAC for the most innovative and useful entries that demonstrate ways to reuse materials that would ordinarily be discarded and thus transported off island in the waste stream. MORE INFORMATION
posted 08/02/03
NUMBER 11: EXHIBITS Islanders show off the bounty from their gardens in the fruit, vegetables,and flowers exhibits. Food preservation, beer and wine and baking categories round out the edible exhibits.
posted 08/01/03
NUMBER 12: CARNIVAL
The carnival rides and games are open from noon to midnight (weather and interest permitting).
NUMBER 13: SHEEP TO SHAWL COMPETITION
posted 07/31/03
Teams of spinners, plyers and weavers turn fleece into a shawl in a matter of hours. The event takes place outdoors by the fiber arts building. Fair-goers can check on the progress and can buy a chance to take the finished shawl home. Raffle tickets are sold during the one-day competition. Check out the story and photos of last year's
Sheep to Shawl contest.
NUMBER 14: THE RACES
posted 07/30/03
You can enter your chicken, your rabbit, your zucchini or even yourself in a race during the county Fair. The 26th Annual 8.8 Island Loop race begins in downtown Friday Harbor and ends up at the county Fair. The race is sponsored by Island Rec and San Juan Island Fitness Club. Registration forms are available on Island Rec's Web site.
Generations of island children have experienced the thrill of watching their rabbit or chicken compete.
A relatively new race at the fair is the Zucchini 500 . Every day during the fair, contestants gather at 5 p.m. at the skatepark to race their hand-crafted zucchini races.
NUMBER 15: ENTERTAINMENT
posted 07/29/03
NUMBER 15: ENTERTAINMENT. There is always something new entertainment-wise at the fair. Among the new acts this year, the Brothers with Different Mothers juggle with unusual body parts, heave yoga balls and turn the audience into a musical instrument. The "brothers" will be performing at various times during the fair which runs from August 13 to 16. Also on hand this year is The Monkey Wrench Puppet Lab. The puppeteers from Vashon Island will perform with their GIANT puppets and present an art workshop.
NUMBER 16: MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT
posted 07/28/03
The 2003 San Juan County Fair opens in 16 days (August 13, 2003). We'll countdown the days with a list of the top 16 reasons - in no particular order - to attend the fair. Number 16: the MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT.
The Most Laughable Band in show business, The Austin Lounge Lizards are rock-country-bluegrass master satirists. They'll close out the fair with a show on Saturday night. Igli, a Latvian band that marries the ancient traditions and modern interpretations of Latvian music will perform Friday, August 15.
Local talent hasn't been forgotten. On the first day of the fair, Uncle Otto, one of the island's favorite bands will perform songs from the 60s and 70s. A variety of local musicians will perform Thursday at Locals Night with the "Local Harvest Band" when Tom Doenges and his musician friends will back up six performers.
Trash to Treasure art contest added to fair
posted 06/25/03
Islanders have seven weeks to get ready for the 2003 San Juan County Fair. This year's theme is "Bringing in the Harvest." Check out the FAIR WEB SITE for details.
San Juan Islander will feature a different aspect of the fair in a series of articles. One of the new features of the fair is the "Trash to Treasure" art exhibit sponsored by the county's Solid Waste Advisory Committee. Islanders are encouraged to create art from recycled material also known as "resources in the wrong place." The entries are due on Tuesday, August 12, 2003. Prizes will be awarded. SWAC also plans to have a ongoing art project at the fair. Fair-goers will be encouraged to add to the creation throughout the four-days of the fair.
George Post of the Exchange on Orcas Island conducted a similar art contest for Earth Day 2003.
New 4-H building due by fair time
posted 06/25/03
4-H will have a new building to display their exhibits by fair time if all goes according to plan. Fair Manager Christine Miller said Butler Creek Construction will build a new 30 by 60-foot building to replace the old 24 by 80 foot building which was torn down June 24, 2003. The new building will be white with a blue roof and look similar to the Jim Crook Building.
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