Livestock but no exhibitors allowed during livestock show, sale
Columbia Basin Herald file photo Brody Wallace attempts to move his steer at a fitting and showing competition during a previous Grant County Fair. State officials are still deciding on two options for the livestock show, according to fairgrounds director Jim McKiernan, and neither will include exhibitors.
MOSES LAKE — All exhibitors will be barred from the livestock show and auction scheduled for Aug. 19-21 or Aug. 20-21. The sale is planned for when the Grant County Fair would have been had the fair not been canceled.
Fairgrounds director Jim McKiernan said Tuesday that state officials still must decide on one of two options for the sale.
In the first option, the animals would be brought to the fairgrounds Aug. 19, judging would be on Aug. 20 and the sale on Aug. 21. In the second option, animals would come to the fairgrounds Aug. 20 and the sale would be Aug. 21. Judging would be eliminated in the second option.
All animals will be gone from the fairgrounds by the evening of Aug. 21.
The auction itself will be online. A link to the auction site will be posted when it’s available, McKiernan said.
Either way, no exhibitors will be allowed to stay at the fairgrounds any longer than it takes to drop off the animals. Adult volunteers will feed and water the animals during their stay.
The 2020 fair was canceled in late May, one of many events that fell victim to the COVID-19 outbreak. But some 4-H and FFA participants already had purchased animals.
“The whole point of this exercise is to allow kids that have animal projects to sell their projects,” McKiernan said.
Exhibitors had two weeks in July to submit their entries. “We have around 250 animals (entered),” he said.
In a normal year, the fair would have 500 to 600 entries, he said.
McKiernan said prices paid on the livestock are expected to be slightly lower than normal. There is some concern that there will be an oversupply of animals, especially lambs and swine, during the fall and winter, he said. The traditional events kids would use to sell their animals have been canceled or shifted online.
And once the animal is sold it has to be processed, which may be a challenge in itself.
“Local butchers, fortunately or unfortunately, right now are piled up with work,” McKiernan said.
The second option is sending animals to a packing house, and McKiernan said the livestock committee members are confident they have found processing options for all the animals entered in the fairgrounds sale.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].