Pueblo – The Colorado State Fair, the quintessential agricultural event of the summer, was in the midst of preparation Thursday, as workers, vendors and 4-H members scrambled at the fairgrounds to get their goats, sheep and ducks in a row before today’s official launch.
“Get up off the deck!” carousel foreman Charles “Sarge” Robinson shouted at his crew of merry-go-round mechanics.
“It usually takes two days to put the carousel together,” he confided Thursday afternoon, five hours before revelers got their first sneak peek at the Colorado State Fair. “We’re doing it in one.”
The fair features 11 days of concerts, livestock shows, agricultural exhibits, food stands and carnival rides. New events this year include the “gators” exhibit with giant turtles, albino snakes and professional alligator wrestling; a grilled-cheese sandwich-eating contest; and the chance to gulp orange “Bronco” milk and meet Miles, the Broncos’ mascot.
Robinson wiped a drop of sweat off his forehead with grease-black hands and frowned at the partially erected carousel before him.
“This is my headache,” he said.
Despite the tension, Robinson, a self-proclaimed “carny” or traveling carnival worker, is confident his masterpiece will be ready in time.
“It’s the nostalgia of it that makes it so popular,” he said.
At the steer show-ring tent, McKenzi Carlson, 13, of Sterling led her steer, Blaze, away from the ear-tagging gate but not before giving him a proud pat on the back for being so mellow.
“He’s kind of ornery,” she said of her seemingly docile steer. “This morning, he stepped on my toes and knocked me down.”
After months of training and quality time, Mc Kenzi will be sad to see Blaze go, but she realizes that is the way of the ranch. Market steers are raised for their meat, and Blaze is a market steer.
“It was harder when I was little,” she said.
Many kids missed school Thursday to be with their animals at the fairgrounds before the big shows. For those who had animals to prep, there was plenty of down time to wander the grounds in search of an open lemonade stand or ice-cream booth.
“It’s too hot here,” said 15-year-old Megan Hollenbeck of Summit County.
Megan and her friends were scouring the grounds for funnel cakes when they ran into the 300-ton sand-sculpture project, in its ninth year at the fair.
“That’s so cool!” Steph Snyder, 14, said as she marveled at the 20-foot-tall sculpture of Rudyard Kipling’s “Jungle Book” characters.
The professional sand sculptors from California-based Sandscapes started molding their masterpiece Aug. 8.
“There was nothing here when we started,” co-founder Greg Glenn said.
“This fair has pretty much all come together in the last few days,” he added.
By late Thursday afternoon, the exhibits and show rings were mostly ready to go, and that left some folks with nothing much to do.
Twenty of them – boys and girls – tackled the time by playing a game of pickup football at center stage in the steer show ring.
Next door, their steers slept in the heat with tails twitching, awaiting their turn on stage.
Staff writer Abbe Smith can be reached at 303-820-1201 or asmith@denverpost.com.
