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publisher1977 · 8 years ago

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Barbara Lawlor, Gilpin County. After 25 years, the Gilpin County Fair organizers finally got the weather right. It was a perfectly warm, partly cloudy, not windy weekend, perfect for putting up vendor tents and inviting thousands of people to spend two days outdoors with food, fun and family.

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There has been many a fair that ended when Rocky Mountain wind gusts have picked up the tents and sent jewelry and hot dogs flying through the air. When the arena and the lanes have turned into mud and puddles and forlorn people huddled under tents watching the rain dribble off the ceiling edges. Food vendors sat glumly in their trailers munching on their own funnel cakes.

But last weekend, the quarter century mark, the fair came out on top and county residents and visitors went home happy and satisfied with their fill of fair for another year.

Beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday, the Peak to Peak Gymkhana Series presented its final competition in the buckle series event, in which all of the points over the summer are added up and the cumulative high point riders are awarded the coveted belt that will be a reminder for the rest of their lives that in the summer of 2017, they and their horses performed horsemanship and gymkhana events worthy of being the champions in their age group.

In the adult 40 and over, Stuart Schultz was the champion; In the adult 18 and older, Ali Nelson was the champion; in the 13 and over, Allison Hardt-Zeman won the buckle.

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Wielding axes, mountain men and women took on the challenge of splitting logs. The contest was to see who could split the most in five minutes. It was a matter of bragging rights for the men and Pete Morgan of Gilpin defended his title from last year, showing his wrestling team the right way to split a log, starting out with picking a dry one.

Casey Newman and her family have run the dog agility contest for the past 25 years, wowing the audience with the amazing feats that our canine friends are capable of performing. The dogs are asked to, first of all, introduce themselves to the judge, and if needed, offer a bribe.

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Then they begin the course that takes them through the Tunnel of Doom, the river, the rainbow, the teeter-totter, the cat walk and onto the dancing stage. A few of the dogs perform well, some of them are almost perfect, except for the one obstacle that becomes a monster in their head and no amount of persuading will get them to enter. Some of the dogs become more interested in the spectators than the course. Sitting in the audience in the front row were three seasoned competitors whose owners opted out of this year’s contest to give the other younger dogs a chance. The three pros watched the contest with wise and knowing eyes. Steve Starch and Nikki were the winners.

Throughout the day, young boys and girls from all over the state signed up to prove their grit by sticking to the backs of young sheep. Sheep are stubborn critters and once they are let go into the arena, all they want to do is hook up with their homies and they run as fast as they can toward the wooly cluster on the other side.

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It is the duty of the rider to hang on for as long as possible. Each child is given a protective vest and helmet. Saturday’s riders all bit the dust after a few seconds. Most of the kids stood up a bit dazed but grinning at their parents who whooped and hollered. A few of them were slower to get up and bemoaned their bumps and bruises, but every one of the kids received a blue ribbon for being brave enough to conquer their fear and hop onto the sheep’s backs.

All afternoon, the low grumbling of the bulls could be heard, a menacing sound, nothing at all like the friendly mooing of a cow. Behind the chutes, the bronc and bull riders prepared for their rides. They resin their ropes, wax their saddles, shine their spurs, wrap their knees, ankles, elbows, shoulders and wrists, take off their day shirts and don their riding gear. Their chaps are well-worm and colorful, red and purple and green fringe. Most of the cowboys wore white hats.

Brian Larson out of Erie got ready for his last ride, saying he was retiring. He broke his hand and didn’t rodeo as much this past summer as he has in the past. He said he took first place in the Gilpin rodeo in 2015 and second place last year. He said he was going to wear his grey chaps, his white vest and his white hat.

“I don’t wear that helmet because it kept hitting me in the head and knocking me out.”

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His bull was Phantom and he heard that he was good enough to win on. Brian said he usually prayed before he dropped onto the bull’s back.

“I am retiring today. This is my last bull. I have a little three year old boy and I need to fix my marriage.”

Brian didn’t ride out the time, getting knocked out shortly after leaving the chute. He wasn’t alone. None of the bull riders were able to stick for eight seconds.

Eric Myrick, one of the rodeo clowns, sat in the shade, his face painted, moving his lips as he read the papers in his hand. He said he was going over his jokes for the afternoon. He is the guy who does a bunch of talking while he sets inside a barrel in the middle of the arena.

“I’m reading my script so when I get hit and can’t think, I’ll know what to say.”

One after another, the cowboys were thrown off a second or two after leaving the chute. The ranch bronc riders fared better with four of them hanging in there for eight seconds. Max Trelew won first place. After the riders were finished, a special session of bronc riding was given over to the 40 and older bunch who showed the spectators that they still had what it takes to sit tight on a bucking bronco.

During intermission, the rodeo clowns had their moment, driving into the arena in the sorriest looking tricked out truck you ever saw. When it stopped, the front wheels were ejected from the frame which sunk into the soft arena dirt. The problem was how to get the truck out. The clowns jumped into the cab of the truck and then jumped out again when flames spewed from the engine.

They opened the hood and out popped a woman. They got back into the cab and the truck rose up on its hind wheels like a rearing horse and the clowns jumped out from their precarious position in the sky. Eventually, the large back tires were able to push the sad vehicle out of the arena leaving the spectaculars still laughing at the performance.

When the clowns finished their antics, the cowgirl trick riders put on a stunning show, hanging upside down on the side of their horse, standing on their backs at a gallop and all done with grace and precision.

The arena events filled the stands all Saturday afternoon.

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The Timberline Fire Protection District showed the fairgoers what becoming part of the community means. Volunteer firefighters were at the fair all weekend handing out information and red plastic fire helmets. The let kids hold a fire hose hooked up to a hydrant and aim at their practice house in flames. They gave rides in one of the huge Timberline fire engines and in the UTV that was purchased by the High Country Auxiliary, Timberline’s support group.

On Sunday morning, the TFPD and the auxiliary put on the annual pancake breakfast fundraiser that allows the auxiliary to help out with special equipment and feeding the firefighters during a long emergency event. There were red shirts everywhere as the firefighter scrambled eggs and cooked sausage and helped set up and break down.

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The Gilpin Gourmet baking contest is always a fun event because after the ribbons are handed out, the audience gets to bid on the winners and all of the other contestant’s entries, every one of them missing a bite. There is some good-natured rivalry taking place in this contest as Gilpin bakers try to outbake each other each year.

Gilpin County Commissioner Ron Engels and Roxie Morris egged each other on vying into coming up with the better preserve. Roxie entered a bunch of hers only to come in second place to Ron’s orange marmalade which took first place and the best in show for adult jams and jellies.

Ron says his secret is using oranges left over from making chocolate dipped candied orange peels, heaven on a stick, at Christmas. Last year, he won the prize for cherry jam, but this year, due to the heavy snow at the beginning of summer, he had only cherry. His jar of marmalade sold for $25.

The highest bid went to the Adult Dessert winner of first place and Best of Show, Julian Rivera’s red velvet cheesecake. As the boxed cake was passed around, members of the audience took in deep breaths, savoring the rich cake aroma. The bidding was frenzied and the cake ultimately sold for $43.

Casey Newman won first place for her three different flavors of fudge made, she says, with velveeta cheese. As strange as it sounds, Casey swore it is the best fudge she ever tasted and she would throw in the recipe with the candy.

Barbara Hardt won adult first place in the bread category for her cheddar, bacon and beer rolls. Her son Hayden, a sixth grader at Nederland Middle School won first place for his homemade raspberry jam. Aucklynn Sacco, a Gilpin County middle school student won first place for her double dipped chocolate vanilla biscotti.

Announcer Chris King did his usual great job of urging people to bid more. After all, it was for a good cause: the Gilpin County Food Bank.

Food vendors offered just about anything you could ask for except for sushi or a fresh salad, but hey, if you go to a fair, you want fair food. Kono snow cones gave the kids cups of ice and let them pour their own flavored syrup resulting in tie die snow cones. And then there were the french fries with everything on it: cheese and pulled pork, more than one person could handle and the Indian tacos with fry bread that makes the serving special.

Political groups gave away drinks and hot dogs and banners and pamphlets. Tammy Story, candidate for the Senate, was introduced by former senator and Gilpin County resident Jeannie Nicholson. Both Republicans and Democrats had booths set up for spreading their words.

It was the 25th anniversary of the fair and a booth to commemorate the event was filled with memorabilia of the past 25 years, including a quilt made of squares for every year. Kids were thrilled with the free fidget spinners, the rage among people who have a hard time sitting still.

Kid rides were everywhere with at least three different kinds of bouncy houses including individual huge rolling balls that held a person who propelled the balls by throwing their bodies into the walls.

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As usual there was a petting zoo, but on Sunday a camel showed up offering his humpy back for rides. Nine-year old Jericho is seven feet tall and seems to have lumps everywhere as he strolled around the exhibition hall arena in a haughty fashion.

At the end of Sunday, the vendors began shutting down and packing up and the fairgoers straggled to their cars. By this time the kids were tired and fussy and the parents were ready to get them home, but everyone was happy to have spent the weekend at a perfect Gilpin County Fair.

Happy birthday, GCF.

(Originally published in the August 24, 2017 print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)

Gilpin County Fair, fast and furious Barbara Lawlor, Gilpin County. After 25 years, the Gilpin County Fair organizers finally got the weather right.

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