Bouncy houses and live music turned the Blaine County Fairgrounds in Carey into a playground for kids of all ages on Friday, when the Blaine County Fair held its first annual Family Fun Day.
4-H volunteer and Blaine County Fair Board member Amy Federko said last week that the goal of the Family Fun Day was to help bring the fair to a larger audience.
"We want more people from the north valley," she said last week. Turns out, she got what she wanted, she said during an interview on Monday.
"The turnout was great," she said. "We saw a lot more people there from the Ketchum area and the Hailey area than we've ever seen before."
Evalyn Nilsen and her sister, Olivia Nilsen, of Carey, played on the bouncy slide Friday evening, only one of several inflatable structures around the fairgrounds. Kortland Carter of Burley chose the bungee race, where children attached to bungee cords race to see who can get the furthest the fastest before snapping back to the starting line.
The day full of fun for kids of all ages ended with the Little Kids Rodeo, organized by volunteer Peggy Hill.
This year's fair had 71 mutton-busters, or children riding sheep the way cowboys ride bulls. D.L. Evans Bank donated a $2 bill for each child that braved a bucking mutton.
Hill said this year's youngest participant was Allie Simpson, a tiny mutton-buster just under 2 years old.
"We fudged it just a little," Hill admitted with a laugh. "[Mutton-busters] are supposed to be 2, but she was close."
Other children avoided the sheep in favor of goats and participated in the goat-tying event. Adults held the goats while the children braved the animals' hooves to grab a ribbon off of each goat's tail.
12-year-old Carey resident Bodie Bennett took on calf-riding and managed to win the coveted belt buckle for his performance.
Adults participated in slightly more intense activities of their own, including wild cow milking. Hill said 12 cows that have never been milked and have been grazing on grassland for their entire lives are let loose in the ring. A dozen teams of two have to chase down the cow, hold her down, and milk her into a pop bottle.
"They have to get the milk without getting their head kicked off," Hill said. "All the teams just go for it."
Hill said the rodeo resulted in no injuries.
"We thought it went pretty smoothly," she said. "We didn't get anyone hurt, other than a little out of breath!"
Federko said the fair's centerpiece event, the market animal sale Saturday when 4-H members sell swine, beef and sheep to generous bidders, went smoothly again this year. Atkinson's Markets and Picabo Livestock were present and bidding in full force, while fair regular Jim Cimino of Ketchum also bid generously.
"We had a great turnout for buyers," Federko said. "We were very, very pleased."
(Results of fair competitions will be published in a later edition of the Idaho Mountain Express.)
Katherine Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com
Even the littlest cowboys, including Carey resident Hagen Hennefer, above, were able to take part in the Blaine County Fair last weekend. Hennefer participated in the Little Kids Rodeo, a series of events that includes goat roping, mutton-busting and calf riding. Express photos by Roland Lane
