Much excitement surrounds county fair

The Washakie County Fair Board expressed excitement and enthusiasm for this year’s line up of events as the fair opens Saturday with the horse show and the first fair cornhole tournament.

The horse show kicks off at 8 a.m. at the arena and the cornhole tournament begins at 1 p.m.

The board discussed the upcoming fair prior to their final pre-fair meeting Monday night. 

The most excitement  centers around this year’s headlining concert, country duo Thompson Square. Local band Rattlesnake Ridge will open for the duo on the grassy stage area. Tickets are available online. (See related story.)

Chairman Jeff Lapp says he likes the livestock animal shows, noting he has sold market pigs to youth who will be showing at county fairs including four who will be shown at the Washakie County Fair next week.

Dani Rice noted the upgrades the fair board has been working on the past few years including the new sign last year, new cement in the sheep barn, this year a new awning for the show arena.

The board said they work to make improvements each year and would like upgrades to each barn.

Lapp said, “We need more room because our numbers are going up.”

Sherry Walter said the fair is a great “opportunity for the community to come out and enjoy what the kids have done with their projects and activities and the friendships they make. It’s family friendly.”

In addition to the exhibits and the musical entertainment — free concerts Wednesday (Big Praise), Thursday (Tris Munsick) and Friday (Jared Rogerson) and the headlining concert Saturday — the board is bringing a variety of entertainment throughout the week. Beth Shaffer said they will have yard games available all week in the grassy area including cornhole, bubbles for the younger children, Connect 4, Giant Jenga and Axe Throwing (don’t worry parents they are not real axes). 

The Worland High School senior class will have a dunking booth throughout the week. Tim Young will have his barrel train, Georgia St Clair will be providing animal balloons in the latter part of the week.

After purchasing a screen from Ten Sleep Recreation District, the board will have a free movie night on Wednesday in the grassy area.

There will be plenty of food at the concession booths, as well as two food trucks, Arctic Blast shaved ice and Dona Elena’s.

One change to the open class shows this year is that the board opened up entries to anyone within the state of Wyoming. Youth shows are limited to Washakie County youth.

There are livestock open class, except swine, which will be after the youth shows. Entries are free. The indoor exhibits for open class are also open this year to anyone.

The trivia scavenger hunt has expanded this year so there will be a drawing for a prize each day of fair. Trivia questions, generated by the Northern Wyoming News, from information that has appeared at some time in the newspaper, will be announced daily with the questions hidden at various locations on the fairgrounds. Clues to locations will be announced on the Fair Facebook page.

Those submitting correct answers will be entered in that day’s drawing as well as being entered in the grand prize drawing — two tickets to the Thompson Square concert.

Entries must be turned into the fair office each day.

Prizes have been donated by Northern Wyoming News, Hasco, Sugarbeet Boutique & Art, Bee Healthy, Kienlen Ace Hardware, Larsen’s Bicycles and Sally’s Classic Pizza.

Following discussion about this year’s fair lineup, the board conducted final business, which included:

•Purchasing two shelves from Tamara Drake and a printer from S&A Bookkeeeping.

•The tug-of-war tournament slated for Monday has been canceled due to only one team signing up by Friday’s deadline.

A full schedule of events can be found on B6. More information can be found on the Fair Board’s Facebook Page and website, wwwwashakiecountyfair.com.