County’s annual showcase opens

Friday, April 7, 2000 | 10:30 a.m.

Fair facts

Clark County Fair & Rodeo

Clark County Fairgrounds in Logandale

10 a.m.-11 p.m. today and Saturday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday

From inside a giant lemon a man serves fresh lemonade. At a nearby pavilion a crowd of 200 gathers to watch an enthusiastic hypnotist.

On the dusty midway, pink and blue flags stream from the top of ticket booths and concession stands, which feature hand-dipped corn dogs, beer sausage and caramel apples.

A group of teenage girls coming off the midway turns a sharp left to avoid wandering into a barbecue tent where a three-piece country band entertains an elderly crowd cooling off around the red-and-white checkered tables.

That was the scene Thursday on the opening day of the 13th annual Clark County Fair and Rodeo in Logandale.

What started as a small event at Logandale's Community Center parking lot is now a main attraction on the edge of town, featuring a carnival with dozens of rides, a rodeo, exhibit halls -- and more than 200 vendors, selling everything from inflatable souvenirs to funnel cakes.

In the quiet farming and ranching towns of Logandale and Overton in Moapa Valley, about 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas, the county fair is not only the largest event of the year, it's a community-wide effort anticipated by townspeople year-round.

"A large number participate," said Darlene Robison, a fair volunteer and a schoolteacher. "They're either involved in the school, the church or the fair."

While the fair employs only three full-time people, it has 600 volunteers, Lori Waters, office manager of the fair, said.

"Our goal is to put on a wholesome family event," Waters said.

Inside the livestock pavilion 12-year-old Rikki Sinclair stood in the center of a pen rubbing her hand on the side of her lamb's neck, hoping to soothe him as the judge assessed the lamb then moved on to the next contestant.

With nervous anticipation Sinclair -- and the audience -- watched the judge. On metal bleachers, men in baseball caps and women with children sat perched, staring earnestly as the judge determined a winner based on structure, meatiness and general health of the lambs.

"This is my hard, hard work," Sinclair said just before the competition.

Like many children in the area, Sinclair, a 4-H Club member, has put a lot of time into training her 8-month-old lamb and preparing him for Thursday's competition.

"They don't come sweet," she said, her legs dangling from the back of the bleachers.

For the past three months she has been walking and taming her lamb and making sure he's fed each morning before she catches the 6 a.m. bus to school.

"It's a big deal for the 4-H'ers and the Future Farmers of America," Connie Sinclair, Rikki's mother, said.

This was Sinclair's second year in the event. She placed sixth. Next year she plans to raise a steer to be judged at the fair.

Bob Hitchcock, an engine collector wearing a red T-shirt and American flag suspenders, plans to gather more engines for "The Hitchcock Engine Show," his annual demonstration of novelty engines popping and hissing near the fair's entrance.

A pig-shaped sign leaning on the exhibit states: "Wanted: More engines for my display."

His current collection includes engines used in the early 1900s that make rope, pump water, shell corn and wash clothes.

"There's lots of folks who have never seen a rope made," Hitchcock said as he demonstrated the machine.

Craft exhibits feature the needlework of Nevada women. Science projects, including a solar oven, are featured along with award-winning irises.

Antique equipment, horticulture displays, pony rides and entertainment are also featured at the four-day event, which draws a crowd of 50,000 annually.

Under the hot sun Thursday, moms on the midway pushed strollers over the gravel, students just out of school raced from ride to ride. Others lingered near the trailers admiring the air-brushed artwork.

"By the weekend you won't see this midway," says a vendor at Bust One, a dart game that promises a stuffed animal if you burst a pink balloon. "By this weekend it will be slammed."

Kristen Peterson covers community news for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2317 or by e-mail at kristen@lasvegassun.com