‘Red, White and MOO’ – Sanpete County Fair features 35 events and competitions

Editor’s Note: For a detailed schedule and rules for fair events, see this year’s fair guide, which was mailed to every household, or visit sanpetecountyfair.net.

MANTI—The Sanpete County Fair gets underway next Monday with a slightly compressed time schedule but a typical agenda of approximately 35 events and competitions, orchestrated by 70-80 volunteers.

The theme this year, a takeoff on the America 250 observance, is “Red, white and MOO.”

The 35 fair events range from the time-honored demolition derby to 10 livestock-related events, to a reading challenge where children in kindergarten through fifth grades who read 25 books between Jan. 1 and Aug. 27 get free admission to the rodeo.

In the past, a few events were held the week prior to the “main” fair. “But we felt the fair was spread out too much,” Matt Reber, Fair Board co-chairman, says. In fact, the board eliminated some events that weren’t attracting a lot of participation.

This year, there are no events outside of “fair week.” The official first day, Monday, Aug. 24, is mainly devoted to taking in exhibits at the Exhibit Building and setting up livestock barns.

The earliest fair event is the junior rodeo on Tuesday night, Aug. 25, which includes mutton bustin’, calf riding, hide races and barrel racing.

Everything else occurs in the four days from Wednesday, Aug. 26 through Saturday, Aug. 29. “They’re very full days,” Reber says.

Some counties include funding for their fairs in their county budgets. Sanpete County contributes some funding for the fair but on the whole, “We operate on borrowed money,” Reber explains. “The county writes the checks, and we hope to make enough to pay (the county) back.”

In most years, the biggest money-maker is the derby, which will be Friday Aug. 28 at 7 p.m. Tickets have been on sale at www.sanpetecountyfair.net since July 1.

As of last Monday (Aug. 17) reserved seats were sold out at $23.80, which included a processing fee. General admission seats were still available in bleachers east and west of the grandstand and opposite the grandstand on the south side of the arena. Those tickets are $18.18, including the processing fee.

But don’t be complacent, one fair official warns. If you want to attend the derby, go online and get your tickets now. Last year, the whole arena sold out. If there are any general admission tickets left on the night of the derby, it will be possible to buy them on-site. But don’t count on it.

Another source of income is the carnival—the rides and midway games set up by Brown Amusements of Mesa, Ariz. The carnival runs Thursday and Friday from 3 to11 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 11 p.m.

Tickets, which cover rides and games on all three days, are $40.65, including a processing fee. The fair gets a percentage of those sales.

As is tradition, there will be two nights of rodeo—Thursday and Saturday, starting at 7 p.m. both nights. The rodeos are presented by Broken Heart Rodeo Co. of Weber County, which provides bucking horses and bucking bulls to rodeos across the Intermountain West.

The rodeos are sanctioned by the Rocky Mountain Professional Rodeo Association, an organization of rodeo performers that sanctions about 40 rodeos per year in the Intermountain West and pays out about $500,000 per year in prize money.

Rodeo tickets are $18.18 including the processing fee. Based on the fair website, about 75 percent of grandstand tickets for Thursday night and about 40 percent for Saturday night had been sold as of last Monday. Bleacher seats for both nights were available, also at $18.18.

People attending the Saturday night rodeo will get a special bonus. Immediately after the rodeo, Jägertown, a country-rock group based in Salt Lake City, will enter the arena and present a concert, which will serve as the concluding event of the fair. There will be no charge for the concert.

Jägertown, a five-member band that has been playing together for 13 years, defines its music as a cross between Lynyrd Skynyrd, a group form the 1970s and 1980s that pioneered the three-guitar sound, and Alabama, which had 21 No. 1 country hits during the 1980s.

The group consists of three guitarists, a drummer and a fiddler. Jägertown has performed at the Deseret Peak Complex in Tooele, a county fair in Caldwell, Idaho, and at clubs and restaurants in Salt Lake City, Draper and Logan.

Following is a sampling of other events by type:

                Meals: A “commissioner’s breakfast,” a free breakfast served by commissioners and county elected officials, will be Saturday from 7-10 a.m. The Sanpete County Cattlemen’s Association will serve a beef dinner Saturday at noon. Both events will be at the pavilion near 700 South in Manti.

                Exhibit Building: The Exhibit Building, just west of the pavilion, will be open Wednesday from 3-6 p.m., Thursday from 3-7 p.m., and both Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. On display will be 4-H projects and “open class” submissions by Sanpete County residents in categories such as baked goods, fresh produce, plants and flowers, and art and photography.

                Livestock: On Thursday, hog, sheep, goats and beef will be displayed and judged based on weight, body condition and other characteristics.

                On Friday, showmanship competition will be held for hogs, sheep, goats and beef. There will also be a dairy goat milking demonstration.

                On Saturday, the Junior Livestock Association show and sale will be held at 10 a.m. in the Small Animal Barn. Dairy goat judging on animal quality and showmanship will be held at 1 p.m.

                Other staples of the fair:

                The Small Animal Barn, featuring rabbits, pigeons, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and other fowl, will be open Friday from noon-7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

                The pet show, open to anyone 18 or younger bringing a pet, is Friday at 2 p.m. at the pavilion.

                Local entertainers will perform Friday from 5-6 p.m. (just before the demolition derby) and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Both performances will be at the pavilion.

                The Fun-on-the-Farm exhibit, activities for kids mimicking what happens on a farm, will be Friday from 4-7 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

                The car and tractor show will be Saturday at the south end of the fairgrounds, near the pavilion. Registration is from 8 to 10 a.m. The show begins at 10 a.m.