Adams County Fair opens Wednesday
File photo Competitors put their animals through their paces at the 2016 Adams County Fair. The 2017 fair opens Wednesday.
File photo Workers at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church booth prepare their world-famous (or at least Adams County-famous) spoon tacos at the 2016 Adams County Fair.
OTHELLO — It’s fair – and parade and rodeo and demolition derby – time in Adams County; the Adams County Fair is scheduled for Sept. 13 through 16.
Most of the action will be at the fairgrounds, 831 South Reynolds Rd., Othello. The fairgrounds open at 8 a.m. each day and close at 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, at 11 p.m. Friday and midnight Saturday.
Daily admission is $7 per person for adults, $5 per person for children ages 7-11, $5 per person for seniors age 62 and older. Children age 6 and younger are admitted free. Weekly fair passes are $21 for adults, $15 for seniors and children. There is no charge for parking.
The parade, scheduled for Saturday morning, is in downtown Othello.
Exhibitors are invited to a fair kickoff breakfast at 6 a.m. Wednesday. There’s a mandatory meeting for all livestock exhibitors scheduled for 8 a.m. Wednesday at the sale barn. Livestock market classes begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, and that’s also when judging begins for all non-livestock exhibits. Horse competition in 4-H and FFA classes begins at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Entertainment begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday and continues every day throughout the fair. Acts include “All-Alaskan racing pigs” and singer Cale Moon. The musical group from the Bethel Spanish Assembly of God will perform at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Time trials for the annual Demolition Derby begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. A new event has been added for 2017; the Bill Bagwell Memorial Winners Race remembers a longtime Othello resident and racing enthusiast who passed away earlier this year.
All demo derby tickets are $10. Children age 6 and younger are admitted free with a paid adult.
Thursday features livestock fitting and showing for all swine, cattle, sheep, goats and rabbits, beginning at 9 a.m. All riding competition begins at 8:30 a.m.
The round robin fitting and showing contest is scheduled for noon Friday.
Draft horse competition is an Adams County Fair tradition, and is scheduled for the traditional time, 5 p.m. Friday in the rodeo arena. Draft horse competition is like a tractor pull, except it’s real horsepower. Horse teams pull a sled across the arena, as it’s filled with heavier and heavier weights.
The first of two performances of the Othello PRCA Rodeo begins at 8 p.m. Friday. The program includes all the rodeo favorites, from broncs and bulls to barrel racing. The second rodeo performance is 8 p.m. Saturday.
Saturday begins with the annual Adams County Fair parade, which starts down Main Street at 10 a.m. Advance registration has closed, but entries will be accepted the morning of the parade.
Parade check-in and registration opens at 8:30 a.m. at the corner of 13th and Main streets. Judging is at 9 a.m., with lineup at 9:30 a.m.
The 4-H and FFA livestock sale is set for noon Saturday. Kids will have the chance to sell their pigs, sheep, goats and cattle and see how much their investment of time and money will pay off. The “Cowboy Mounted Shooters” take to the arena at 3 p.m. Saturday.
The annual “Diaper Derby” is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday at the fairgrounds. It’s for babies 15 months old and younger – and their parents, of course – but the children must be crawling.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.