Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Fair kicks off Saturday

Fair time is here again.

The 65th annual Nevada County Fair is Sept. 8-16, and is shaping up to be one of the best ever. The theme of this year's fair is, "65 Years of Southern Grace."

The fun kicks off at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, with the Little Britches Rodeo.

Youngsters from the area will be competing in a variety of events to see who gets bragging rights as being the top cowboy or cowgirl in the county.

This will be followed Sunday with gospel singing during the afternoon. The concerts will get underway at 2 o'clock.

Monday, Sept. 10, begins with a community coffee at the Potlatch building. This event is sponsored by the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce.

From there, the afternoon will be used to get items entered in the different events.

This includes arts, crafts, photography, baked goods, quilts, household articles, food preservation, fall gardens, field crops and furniture.

It will also include entries in the livestock competition.

All poultry and rabbit buildings will be open from 3-6 p.m. to put up the educational and commercial booths.

From 7:30-10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, will be the final time for getting anything entered in the fair to be judged.

The judging will start at noon for flowers and exhibits.

From noon until 5 p.m. cattle, swine, sheep and goats can be entered for competition.

But, the event everyone considers a must to get the fair "officially" underway is the fair parade. This year the parade will begin at 6 p.m., following the traditional route.

In addition, the exhibition buildings will be open at 6 o'clock, as will the midway.

At 7 p.m., the old timers rodeo takes place, with plenty of ointment and liniment on hands for afterwards to sooth the contestants aching muscles.

The talent show will be going on in the Potlatch building starting at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday sees the exhibit buildings and midway open at 3 o'clock, with the livestock show to start at 5:30 p.m.

In the event parade is rained out on Tuesday, it will be held Wednesday at 6 p.m.

The midway opens again at 3 p.m. Thursday, with the exhibit buildings opening at 5 o'clock.

The livestock premium sale will be held at 5:30.

Those on tap to participate in the sale include: Emily Byrd, Lauren Byrd, Elizabeth Carlton, Earnest Evans, Jr., Kaylee Fincher, Cassie Godwin, Rylie Godwin, Yolanda Gulley, Greg Gulley, Jr., Daniel Holley, Doug Holley, Hanna Jo Haynie, Demarco Ingram, Domonique Ingram, Fernando Ingram, Cody Jackson, Sarah Jobe, Brody Joyce, Logan Joyce, Ashley Lowe, Randy McClure, Wayne McClure, Kelsey Ratcliff, Roman Richards, Kelli Sanford, Hunter Sims and Shaundra Williams.

This will be followed by the first round of the fair pageants, scheduled to begin at 6 o'clock.

The first group will have the baby miss, tiny miss, little miss and petite miss divisions decided on.

Things slow down somewhat Friday, as the Wolves will be playing football on the road against the Gurdon Go-Devils.

However, the carnival and midway will open at 3 o'clock, with the exhibit buildings opening at 5 p.m.

Saturday, though, is when the real fun begins.

The day starts with a horse show at 10 a.m., the same time the midway opens.

The exhibit buildings will open at 5 o'clock, with the second round of fair pageants starting at 6 p.m.

This group will include the young miss, junior miss, teen miss and fair queen.

At 7 p.m., Bull Bash 2001 starts with wranglers pitting their skills against some ill-tempered livestock in the arena.

During the bull riding breaks, there will be a mutton bustin' competition for children seven and under.

All livestock will be released at 9 p.m. by Fair Manager Gail Ratcliff.

Between 1:30-3 p.m. Sunday, all items are to be picked up and removed from the fairgrounds.