The Routt County Fair, which is celebrating its 110th year, will run at the county fairgrounds Aug. 9-18. Since 1914, the event has been the premier celebration of the region’s ranching heritage. 

Tami Eggers has served as the 4-H Specialist for the Routt County CSU Extension Office for the last 14 years. During that time, she has witnessed the deep power that the fair holds for the young people who work year-round to bring their projects to completion. 

“The fair is the culmination of the hard work of all these youth,” she said. “They’ve been working with their animals and projects for months now. It’s a really excellent opportunity to see their projects come to fruition and to see the whole community come together around them.” 

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The 4-H motto of “learn by doing” will be on full display during the duration of the fair. Eggers explained that the failures and successes that young people go through can provide big learning opportunities, especially when something doesn’t go right. 

Some of those learning opportunities include life skills, such as the management of money related to the animal. Those skills, among many others, pay off for participants later in life.

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She explained that there are other events not related to animals on tap for this year’s fair, including rocketry, welding, robotics, cake decorating, leathercraft, heritage art projects and shooting sports.

“4-H has many opportunities for many kids to excel in different projects,” said Eggers. 

She noted that the 4-H component of the fair is the result of the hard work of two extension office employees and 80 “passionate” volunteers, all of whom work year round to support the 250 participating youths. 

Hayden School District’s Eric Wellman, who teaches agricultural education, spoke about the deep unifying power the fair holds for community members. 

“I think it is a great opportunity for us to highlight 4-H and FFA members from very different communities when they all come together and participate in one local event,” he said. “Schools are the heartbeat of our small communities, so it is natural for us to put them in the limelight and want them to be the shining stars.”

He continued to explain that for many generations the fair has served as an opportunity for young people to develop career ready skills, and a deep work ethic, as they labor with their animals to prepare them for the annual event. 

Wellman sees the competitive nature of the Routt County Fair as a key and prolonged growing experience, due to the fact that many youth start working in the program at the age of 8 and continue until they are 18.

Wellman described a partnership between youth and their show animals that can be physically and mentally demanding while also necessitating a high level of discipline and commitment. 

“That progression that they’ve done, and the skills that they have learned, it all comes from work ethic and how you are able to market yourself,” he said. “I think that’s one of the highlights that a 4-H agriculture livestock project instills in our students.”

Poppy Wilcox, 12, lives in Hayden and is one of those 4-H youth who has experienced the personal growth that comes with participation at the Routt County Fair.

This year, she is working with Lisa Guire on training her dog Snickers for the canine event, though her greater experience is with a smaller animal.

She started showing rabbits four years ago, earning many awards in the process.

“I’ve learned that I am a great animal person,” said Wilcox. “Working with rabbits is really fun, and it brings me a lot of joy and happiness.” 

Wilcox added that her goal was breeding her own rabbits, and she worked with 4-H mentor Katherine George — the rabbit club leader for eight years — to accomplish that.

There is a great deal of camaraderie in working with animals.

“It’s really fun to get together, to do the meets and to be with friends,” Wilcox said. 

Wellman also noted that while the fair is a “great vessel to highlight kids,” there are other events that involve the adults of the agricultural community as well. Any community member in Routt County can participate, including vegetables, plants and projects. 

Wellman described the rise of “agricultural art” as being tied to the CODVID-19 pandemic and the necessity to begin to revisit more traditional ways of life during it. 

“Ever since COVID, crocheting, knitting, sewing and all those heritage arts are starting to have a revival behind them,” he said.

Moreover, the specific events of the Routt County Fair are tied to the history of the region, particularly the horse, beef, and lamb shows. The lamb show, according to Wellman, holds a very deep and nostalgic meaning to the area due to the strong history of sheep ranching during and immediately after World War II.

“We ran a lot of sheep in this country,” Wellman said. “There really is a strong historical connection between the fair and sheep.” 

This year’s fair will feature an extreme motorsports display, Octane Addictions, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16, as well as a concert by Eric Paslay at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17.

For more information on the 110th Routt County Fair, or to purchase event tickets, visit RouttCountyFair.org.