The Fair Flash

Raffle tickets are now on sale for this choice chicken tractor.

The Rock-n-Doodle Poultry 4-H Club is raffling off a handmade chicken tractor as a fundraiser for its upcoming Whidbey Island Chicken Coop Tour on April 24.
The Coop Tour is an all-island driving tour of interesting and captivating chicken coops from Oak Harbor to Langley.
The custom chicken tractor is made of high-quality teak wood. Raffle tickets are on sale at Skagit Farmers Supply in Freeland and Oak Harbor for $5. Included are two live chicks and a chick starter kit, compliments of Skagit Farmers Supply.
The prize is valued at $1,500; the drawing will be on Saturday, March 6.

Simon the golden retriever isn’t too thrilled about helping her owner Taylor Tangeman, 10, of Langley finish the dog agility course at the fair.

Yes, we know the fair is so last week (actually, the week before last).

But we’ve been going through some of the photos from this year’s extravaganza, and decided to share some of our favorites, including some that never made it into the paper. Enjoy!

Jaidin Jones, Chantelle Gossler, Jessica Dunn and Talon Jorgenson wave to the crowd below from the lofty heights of the Sky Master.

Kayie McRea, 7, wins sucker after sucker from JP Patches during the yes-no game on the midway stage.

Shooter, a 2-year-old German shepherd, drags Jaymee Graves, 11, of Oak Harbor through the dog agility course in the horse arena on Saturday. Jaymee is a member of the K9 Korps 4-H Club.

Langley was a blue-ribbon winner at the Island County Fair this year.
The city won first place for its parks and open space display, Kathleen Landel, assistant to Mayor Paul Samuelson, told the Langley City Council at its meeting last week.
The prize-winning display features a series of stations depicting events in the history of park and open-space planning by city officials and volunteer citizen groups, and their recommendations for the future. The display was unveiled this past spring, and has been shown at public meetings to gather input.
“It’s the city’s first blue ribbon,” Landel said.
“Next year we should enter our beans,” she added, pointing to the little garden outside city hall.

Ann Tuttle and Carol Coble have a prime parking spot for their RVs.

Ann Tuttle and Carol Coble of Freeland have two of the best seats in the house for the horse competitions.
Their RVs are parked on a little ridge right above the action, front-row center.
“It’s a blast, we love doing this,” Coble said Thursday.
They didn’t have to park outside the fairgrounds for three days to be first in line for the prime spots. The parking places are assigned to leaders of the various 4-H horse clubs, Tuttle said.
This year’s front row included vehicles owned by other horse-club leaders, with a couple of dog-club leaders thrown in down at the end, she said.
Tuttle and Coble are co-leaders of the South Whidbey Sat N Saddles Club. Coble’s daughter Missy and Tuttle’s daughter Megan are both 18 and in their final year of 4-H competition.
“It’s a lot of fun connecting and hanging out with our teenaged daughters,” Coble said.

John Bleakley shows off his wax creations.

John Bleakley is happy to give you a big hand — in wax.
“Business has been very good, considering the rain,” he said. “It’s a small community fair, and I enjoy doing it.”
For $5, Bleakley will create a wax replica of your hand (or your baby’s foot).
First, you select a pose. Then you dip your appendage in a pot of warm wax, then into a pot of ice water, then wax, then water, wax, water, wax, water — about 10 times each.
When the wax has built to perfection, Bleakley pops it off your hand, and it’s ready for the mantel.
Some people do clasped hands; others attach a baseball or little eyeballs.
Bleakley, of Everett, said he has been offering his service at events throughout the area for 20 years.
Does he get any dodgy requests?
“All the time,” he said. “But I made it a practice many years ago not to do it. These are family fairs.”

Lizzie Fry with her racing guinea pig, Sage.

Sage the cavie will be going for the gold at the fair’s Guinea Pig Race on Sunday afternoon at the Cavie Barn.
Actually, she’ll be going for the yogurt treat, said her owner, Lizzie Fry, 13, of Oak Harbor.
“I’ll give her one at the end,” said Fry, a member of the Cavies and Company 4-H Club. “I don’t know how fast she is, because she’s never raced before.”
Nevertheless, she said Sage, a 1-year-old brown-and-gold cross-breed she’s raised since the animal was four months old, has been getting in a lot of practice running around the house, where she lives in a cage in Fry’s bedroom.
“She can run, but not always in a straight line,” Fry said. “She gets distracted easily.”

Rich Pearson watches the passing midway crowd at the fair.

Rich Pearson of Langley looked like the lonely Maytag Repairman of TV commercial fame as he sat in his camp chair under an awning at the fair on a drizzly Thursday afternoon.
“I’ve had a couple people stop by,” he said. “I think the rain is holding them back. They’re probably running into the buildings.”
Pearson was tending a display of propane and wood stoves and portable generators set up by Ace Hardware in Freeland.
“Last year, we had one stove fired up,” he said. “This year we didn’t bring propane with us.”
He said that even though business appeared to be slow, the fair display never fails to generate some interest in the equipment, perhaps as much as a year later.
Pearson said that as an extra incentive this year, there’s a federal tax credit on the purchase of a new wood stove.
“This time of year, a lot of people give consideration to an upgrade in their heating systems,” he said as he settled back in his chair to watch the midway traffic passing by.

Jay Johnson with his champion rabbit, Storm

Jay Johnson, 10, is all business when it comes to raising rabbits.
His 2-year-old gray Holland female named Storm won a Junior Fitting and Handling Champion trophy, along with a first-place blue ribbon and a second-place red one in judging competitions at the fair.
“They’re known to be real gentle,” said Johnson of Oak Harbor, a member of the Anything, Everything & Beyond 4-H Club. “But they can be hard to take care of. You have to be patient.”
“And they’re not so great as meat,” he added. “They don’t taste so good.”
Johnson has two rabbits at the fair, and others at home. When it comes to raising rabbits, he’s full-service.
“I butchered one a couple of days ago, and we had rabbit stew,” he said.

Ruth Ohm is the rear-gate keeper at the fair.

Don’t try to sneak into the fair the back way. Ruth Ohm and her husband John are on guard.
“I know all the people who run the fair,” said Ruth, who checks everyone who passes her flagged rope for one of eight required wristbands, tickets or other credentials.
“It’s a fun job,” she said Thursday, the first day of the fair. “But by nighttime, I’m ready to go to bed.”
The Ohms now live in Redmond, but were longtime island residents (she’s a member of the Gabelein family). They’ve looked after the back entrance to the fairgrounds at Fairgrounds Road for the past five years.
“We do this together, but right now he’s taking a nap,” she said.
Any unauthorized visitors? “Not so far,” she said. “There seem to be some cars that aren’t supposed to be there.”
She said her intentions were to come to the job prepared, since rain was in the forecast.
“I told John whatever you do, bring the chairs and the umbrellas. He brought the chairs,” she said.