Visitors to the Rio Arriba County 4-H Fair last week were treated to the sights of goats in costume, water balloon fights, smiling children holding rabbits and puppies and even a miniature but functional pump jack.
Besides the animal shows, indoor exhibits at the Rural Events Center in Abiquiú gave members of 4-H a chance to prove what they could do with projects as diverse as baking, leather crafts and photography. Booths taught visitors about noxious weeds and the oil and gas industry. And for those who ate too much Fair food (from funnel cakes to turkey legs), Las Clinicas del Norte even offered to check visitors’ blood pressure and sugar levels free of charge.
The July 31 rabbit show had people clipping, brushing and even running vacuums over their bunnies.
This was Makeely Garcia’s third year as a Cloverbud. She said she started participating in 4-H when she was 5. She had rabbits, pygmy goats and a Christmas tree made of sugar layered on more sugar. She was trying unsuccessfully to keep the sawdust out of her lionhead rabbit’s furry face after it had been groomed, but she said it was her favorite.
“They’ve done really well, and I’m proud of them,” she said. “They’re fun to show, and they’re really cool.”
Garcia said she looks forward to showing pigs next year, too.
“You get to learn about different things every year,” she said.
Rosa Martinez, 18, with the Mustangs club in Los Ojos, was wielding a vacuum over one of her rabbits. She said it was her sixth year at the fair, and she finally had her technique nailed down.
“Once you figure out how to do things, it’s your last year,” she said.
Martinez said she even bought her rabbits this year. In her previous three years she said she showed mixed-breed rabbits she caught herself.
“Very carefully,” she said when asked how one runs down a wild rabbit. “You usually go in as a team.”
Martinez had another animal of which she was particularly proud: the rare five-toed chicken. She said it was her first year to show chickens, and she wasn’t quite sure how to get them ready.
“This one’s kind of hit and run for me,” she said.
José Luis Archuleta, 10, of Ojo Caliente, was showing chickens for the first time, too. He even won first place with one of his pens. He said he didn’t exercise his chickens, but he cleaned them for the show and got them used to being handled.
“I washed ‘em down on the bottom,” he said. “I practice with ‘em, holding ‘em. They’ve gotta get used to that.”
During the awards presentation Aug. 2, a memorial scholarship given by Edwin and Phyllis Gurule had members of the audience choked up. Edwin Gurule remembered his son, Sammy, who died in a car accident Nov. 10, 2006, on his way back from New Mexico State University, He was a member of 4-H and had dreams of becoming a veterinarian or pediatrician and returning home to Tres Piedras to help his community.
Now the couple presents a $500 scholarship and belt buckle in his memory. Rosa Martinez was this year’s recipient.
Outside, Victor and Charmaine Salazar helped their daughters get their horses ready for the Aug. 2 show.
Victor Salazar said they break out the camper for the Fair each year and all stay on the grounds together.
“This is a family affair,” he said.