A lot going on during Othello Fair finale
Othello Fair parade participants donned Santa hats and reindeer antlers Saturday to promote the Othello Christmas parade.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald
Nado, the newest K-9 at the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, got a ride from his handler Joe Phillips during the Othello Fair parade Saturday.
Xzyan Martinez stops to talk with a spectator during the Othello Fair parade Saturday.
There was so much candy thrown out during the Othello Fair parade that there was candy for the girls from the dance school walking the parade route.
Julian Gonzalez maneuvers his steer around the ring during the stock sale at the Othello Fair Saturday.
Mark (left) and Henry Campbell play a game at the Kids Zone at the Othello Fair.
Othello cheerleaders hand out candy picked from the Othello Fair parade route to the football players marching with them.
Children wave to parade participants during the Othello Fair Saturday.
OTHELLO — The announcer ran down the list of events at the Othello Fair just after noon Saturday — the car show near the entrance, music on the brand-new main stage, the stock sale underway at the livestock barn.
“We have so much going on today,” she said.
There was in fact a lot going on during the fair’s finale Saturday, from the annual fair parade downtown on Saturday morning to the second performance of the Othello Rodeo Saturday night.
The parade featured dance school students in colorful costumes, the Othello High School marching band, the OHS football team and cheerleaders, political candidates and candy. Lots of candy actually, so much that the children who lined the street couldn’t get to all of it. Some of the girls in the dance troupe carried bags and picked up candy along the parade route.
Some of the action at the fairgrounds was unplanned, such as the steer lined up for the stock sale that jerked away from its owner and lumbered across an open field. But all it really wanted to do was go back to the beef barn, which it did, where it allowed itself to be corralled.
The stock sale gave the youth exhibitors the chance at a payoff for a summer’s worth of work. Owners washed and dried their steers, pigs and lambs, brushed and combed them and led them into the arena for interested buyers to evaluate and buy.
Success in the show ring is made up of two components: preparation – for both the animal and exhibitor – and presentation. Molly Shearer, Moses Lake, was a grand champion in FFA fitting and showing, and said the animal and the owner have to cooperate to present themselves to their best advantage. For the sale Shearer’s lamb was as spotless as a lamb can get. Shearer wore her FFA jacket, and added the FFA tie.
“You have to work well together,” she said of success in the show ring.
Experience helps. And both exhibitor and animal have to be focused on what they’re doing, and the exhibitor has to work to present the animal to its best advantage.
“Experience and the drive that you and your lamb have,” Shearer said,
Julian Gonzalez of Connell is in his third year of showing steers, and he said he’s gotten better as he gains experience.
“I practice more,” he said.
He won blue ribbons in market class, which evaluates the animal, and fitting and showing, which evaluates animal and exhibitor. He got $3 per pound for his steer, and he had plans for it.
“I’m going to buy my steer for next year and save the rest for college,” he said.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.
