Still time to get in fair entries

Even without benefit of a calendar, a recent slow trip up NM 206 following a food truck painted with a four-foot tall picture of a glistening candy apple was proof-positive: Fair season has arrived in eastern New Mexico.

Curry County kicked off festivities on Tuesday for a five-day run in Clovis.

Roosevelt County will follow suit this Tuesday through Aug. 26, with entry day slated for Monday at the fairgrounds north of Portales.

In the 110 or so years since Roosevelt County first started holding some version of a fair, there are categories that have obviously remained unchanged.

Garden staples like tomatoes and sweet corn and okra are still entered for competition, nursed to perfection with products and equipment unimaginable to our ancestors, who coaxed crops out of cracked ground with faith and horse-drawn plows.

But plenty of entry opportunities exist now that would baffle our forebears.

Laborers who first started using wooden pallets around World War II, likely never envisioned “pallet art.”

Plastic canvas? Who could have guessed?

Rock painting? Six months ago, I would have laughed at the idea of this being a competition category at a county fair, but as our largest regional rock painting group now boasts more than 15,000 members, rivalry could be intense.

I opened my well-worn copy of Roosevelt County History and Heritage this week to reread Chapter XVI, a backstory of the local fair written in 1975 by Mary Blakley.

Blakley said our fair grew out of a smattering of displays in Richland, Inez, and Rogers that took place in the early years of the 20th century as a way for farmers to display their fall produce.

By 1912, the idea had gelled a bit more and the Portales Commercial Club offered space for fair exhibits, luring exhibitors with prizes including “a crate of cantaloupes, 50 pounds of flour, 500 pounds of coal … and real ‘hard cash’ for trade at Pearce’s Drug Store.”

By tame comparison, current exhibitors vie for buckles, trophies, ribbons, and modest premiums, although there is some serious money on the line when it comes to fancy cakes and pies.

There are literally thousands of categories for the 2017 Roosevelt County Fair, and you have a whole weekend to whip up an entry.

Fair books are available at the Roosevelt County Extension Office, 705 E. Lime St., Portales, or online at:

http://aces.nmsu.edu/county/roosevelt/roosevelt-county-fair-.html

Betty Williamson’s favorite category is Ceramics 2771 “Firing mishaps.” You may reach her at: [email protected]