Tucked away in the Wasatch County Parks and Recreation building during the annual Fair Days event was an array of projects with no common denominator other than that they were made, grown or baked by hand. There were countless cakes, a crocheted, two-foot-tall dragon and a 51,300-piece puzzle laid out on several tables assembled by seniors from the Wasatch County Senior Center.

The 29-by-7 foot masterpiece took five months to assemble and depicts 27 wonders of the world, from the Statue of Liberty to the Taj Mahal. 

The puzzle is far from the only contribution the Senior Center made to the Fair Days exhibition, which showcases and judges community talent in categories ranging from horticulture to arts and crafts. In total, the county’s seniors submitted 109 exhibits, earning 16 first-place ribbons, according to Candie Bonner, activities coordinator for the Senior Center.

Heber City senior citizen Sharon Michael won a first-place ribbon in acrylic painting for her depiction of a hunched-over king vulture. 

“When you get old, you develop some things,” she said — namely, “talent.”

When Michael started painting in a course at the Senior Center last year, she whined through the entire class. She found herself apologizing to the teacher when she realized her wildlife paintings turned out surprisingly well. 

The Senior Center offers a wide array of classes — tap dance, tai chi, watercolor painting and pool, to name a few. It also organizes get-togethers at concerts, plays and restaurants. The seniors even visited Strawberry Reservoir recently to watch a fish hatchery release 10,000 trout.

“(The Senior Center does) a tremendous amount to include all the senior citizens that have varied interests,” Michael said. 

Bonner is the force behind the classes and events. A Fair Days exhibitor herself, Bonner began encouraging seniors to participate a few years ago after noticing how proud they were of what they were making in classes.

“The talent of our senior community is amazing, and sometimes, I feel like they get overlooked. So, it’s been really neat to see them come and share their talent,” she said. 

Heber City resident Nancy Geisler said the Senior Center’s handling of the submission process makes it easy to participate.

Geisler has sewn her entire life. This Fair Days, she won a first-place award for a folding screen. Inside the oak frame, she sewed an intricate pattern using white thread and a technique called net darning. 

“It’s not as tedious as cross-stitching. It’s kind of the same thing because you’re working in squares, but it goes faster,” Geisler explained.

Meanwhile, Midway senior Cheryl Long made quilts with her granddaughters, Evalyn, 7, and Teagan, 9. The girls chose fabrics patterned with ice cream cones and hummingbirds, respectively. 

“I loved it. It was tedious for them at different points,” Long joked.

For Bonner, the appeal of the Fair Days exhibits is their celebration of talents that can be considered “a forgotten art.”

“It’s just awesome to see people remembering how to preserve food, how to hand-make quilts,” she said.

Bonner’s first Fair Days exhibit was a bookmark she submitted when she was 5 years old. This year, she submitted various canned goods, from jams to chicken, and floral arrangements. 

“It’s a good place to gather, to share your talents, to have joy,” she said about the Fair Days exhibition. “(For) the senior community … to remember, ‘I have talents. I can do these things and share them with people.’”

The post Seniors sweep awards for Wasatch County Fair Days exhibits appeared first on Park Record.

Peanut the goat is a classic redhead, sassy and spicy, as described by his 12-year-old owner, Ryker Butler.

The 6-month-old baby goat loves to wrestle, jump on people and clumsily pretend to be a mountain goat. If anyone other than Ryker tries to feed him, Peanut will snootily turn his head away. When he sits, obscuring his legs, he looks like a “jelly bean.” 

Peanut’s original name was Biscoff. Ryker renamed him Peanut Anderdingus. His surname comes from a viral meme and the fact that “he can be a dingus,” Ryker explained.

Ryker knew when he bought baby Peanut from a family friend that he’d be raising him as a meat goat to be auctioned off at Wasatch County Fair Days’ junior livestock show. It was the first year Ryker or anyone in his family had participated. Though he loves Peanut, Ryker accepted his fate.

“You’ve got to eat something. It’s the life cycle,” Ryker said Friday. “Some people like eating goat, and some people don’t. So, it’s dependent on the buyer if they want to eat him as brisket or lamb chops or just keep him as a family pet.”

But at the auction Saturday, the bond that Ryker and his mom, Kylie, had formed with Peanut proved stronger than they anticipated.

Local company Epic Engineering bought the goat for about $700 and decided to send him to Springville Meat Company for processing. That’s when Kylie attempted to buy Peanut back — but Epic Engineering donated the goat to her instead.

“It was a huge thing that Epic did for us in just donating him back, because Ryker will still get that donation money for all of his work,” Kylie said.

Peanut now lives on a friend’s farm in Duchesne, where he will continue to be raised as a pet.

Though Kylie and her son learned that the livestock auction isn’t for them, Ryker became a more responsible and patient person by raising his rambunctious goat.

Kylie and Ryker also appreciate the role the junior livestock program plays in the community.

“The farmers that raise the beef? This is where it starts, with generations of this,” Kylie said.

The livestock auction involves goats, sheep, cows and swine. The animals are judged for their potential meat quality, hence why the goats and sheep are shaved.

“Then, you can see their muscles,” Kylie explained. “You just don’t go past the knees, and then you’ve got to leave the tip of the tail.”

The resulting haircut made it look like Peanut was wearing woolly boots and had a feather duster tail. 

Peanut won second place in the lightweight division, earning Ryker a pink Reserve Champion ribbon.

Participants can also win awards for how they handle their animals and present them to the judges. Children aged 8 through 18 participate in the auction either through Utah State University’s 4-H livestock program or the Future Farmers of America, or FFA, of which Wasatch High School agriculture students are members. 

Kody Clyde, a Wasatch High School agriculture teacher of 23 years, said there are always a few tears during the auction as youth say goodbye to their animals.

“It’s a hard lesson, but they learn that they’re actually doing something really good that’s going to benefit other people afterwards,” he said. “They’re actually making a difference in someone’s family, where they’re going to have a high-quality meat product to enjoy all winter.”

For Heber City native Billy Hansen, the junior livestock program is a way to keep in touch with the Heber Valley’s agricultural roots even amid rapid growth and development. Hansen participated when he was growing up. This year, his four kids, aged 9 to 18, raised sheep for the auction.

“It’s so expensive to raise livestock and to have animals because land is so expensive and feed is so expensive. So, this is a way that kids can still get a feel for raising livestock and still be able to do it on not as much land,” he said.

Hansen and his kids also participate for the life lessons. His oldest son learned one last year when his sheep died unexpectedly the night before the auction.

“They work hard for it, and it doesn’t turn out the way they wanted it to or imagined it to. That’s part of life, too,” Hansen said. 

Wasatch County 4-H livestock coordinator Abigail Johnson has also participated in livestock auctions since childhood. She said another thing kids get out of the experience is a chance to be a leader as they help younger kids in the program take care of their animals.

Clyde agreed. He was raised in Heber City and said participating in FFA was “the one thing that gave me confidence.”

“I was pretty shy, not very outspoken, made a lot of friends and was forced to become a leader,” he said.

Raising animals also gave him that sense of responsibility all kids in the program benefit from.

“They’re learning how to take care of a living organism. You can’t go on vacation and not worry about who’s going to feed your pig,” Clyde said. “You have to go out twice a day and feed and water and walk and wash and train and all these things. It’s a really big commitment.”

Their kids’ work culminates in community members — family, friends, companies or hotels — buying their animals for sometimes thousands of dollars. One year, a lamb went for $50,000 as a fundraiser for a local family whose barn had burned down.

But to Clyde, at least, the money is secondary to what youth learn from the program.

“In my opinion, we’re raising kids, not livestock,” he said. “It’s nice that they’re getting these big paychecks. But to me, the product we’re getting in our community is a well-rounded kid who knows how to work and knows how to go out into the industry and get things done.”

The post Wasatch County junior livestock program is about ‘raising kids, not livestock’ appeared first on Park Record.

Wasatch County Fair Days is returning to the Heber Valley once again. 

The annual festival brings in tens of thousands of people each year between attendees, spectators and participants. 

“Every year it grows. … We’re probably pushing over 100,000 people that come through for everything combined,” Wasatch County Parks and Recreation marketing coordinator Jennifer Bowman said. 

Fair Days kicks off with the annual Demolition Derby. But there’s also the Mountain Valley Stampede Rodeo, the Wasatch County Fair Days parade and the nightly carnival with rides, fair foods and more. 

Beyond events, Bowman said there will be plenty of live music and entertainment for visitors and families. This year, in conjunction with hot dogs on July 27, there will be also be a chili cook-off for participants to show off family and go-to recipes. 

For Bowman, it’s the exhibits and livestock shows that are underrated. 

“Our exhibits, we have so many talented people in this valley and everything from jams and quilts to Legos and photos. Just the clever things that people make, create, grow are absolutely incredible,” Bowman said. 

The Wasatch County Senior Center also participates with “the largest puzzle they can find.”

“This year, I think they’re doing a 40,000 piece puzzle to put in the exhibits,” Bowman said. “Our livestock show is the largest in the state and it brings in the most money of any show in the state, which is over $1 million.” 

This year marks Erik Lappe’s 17th Wasatch County Fair Days. He is the facility and parks manager with Wasatch County Parks and Recreation. For Lappe, organization of the event begins as early as February. 

“We’re always making changes, trying to do things to make it better,” Lappe said. 

This year, Wasatch County Parks and Recreation is “rebranding” the country market to “give it new life,” Lappe said. It will now be called the Mountain Valley Market. 

“We want to sort of spice that up and make it a place that people want to go at Fair Days,” Lappe said. 

Crafters and artisans of all sorts will have booths to sell their wares, Lappe said. That includes wood carvers, metalsmiths and jewelers. 

Lappe said the hot dog meal is not an event to skip — especially if there’s interest in participating in the chili cook-off. Lappe said his team prepares about 2,500 hot dogs. Last year, just a few were left over when all was said and done. 

There will also be movie showings and a kids market where Wasatch County children can set up their own little businesses selling items like lemonade and cotton candy. 

But for Lappe, his favorite part is seeing thousands of community members come together to celebrate the dog days of summer. 

“Just how involved the community gets whether you see people you don’t see once a year or you haven’t seen for a long time. Everybody tries to come back for this for a family reunion,” Lappe said. 

He said it’s also great to see the Heber Valley community businesses appearing year after year despite the fair’s growth over time. 

For those looking to win bigger prizes, Lappe said visitors can participate in the Fair Days Parade. Families, businesses and organizations can enter to win the best themed entry prize of $500. This year, the theme is “timeless traditions.”

“Obviously we see a different part of it, but that’s one thing I’ll take from it from the start to the end, just the community helping out and looking out for people,” Lappe said. 

Wasatch County Fair Days begins on July 23 and goes until Aug. 1.

The post Wasatch County Fair Days to start this month appeared first on Park Record.