Wednesday, April 10, 2002 | 9:22 a.m.
LOGANDALE -- There was a time not too, too long ago -- the 1970s -- when fair organizers trucked dirt into the Las Vegas Convention Center to hold the annual Clark County Fair.
But after Clark County Commissioner Bob Broadbent -- a big supporter of the event -- left office, the fair had to look elsewhere. These days that means Las Vegans drive 45 miles north of downtown to prove to their kids that milk and ice cream come from cows, not cartons.
This year's four-day event, Thursday through Sunday, is the 15th annual show for the fair, now known officially as the Clark County Fair and Rodeo. It has roots going back to the 1956 livestock show held in Cashman Field.
Much that was true then remains true today in Logandale.
"You could call most any people and find they're involved in the fair, whether it's taking tickets or picking up garbage," said Gene Houston, a member of the Logandale town advisory board and a construction estimator in Las Vegas.
He helps out with the rodeo. His wife helps with the fine arts. Todd Robison, director of the fair, says he coordinates about 750 volunteers. Some, including his wife, Denise, a native of Logandale and the entertainment coordinator, work year-round for no pay.
"We've been to fairs all over the place and no one has anything like this," she said.
Denise, 39, flies to three fair conventions each year to sign acts for three performing stages for four 12-hour days. The acts include rock and country music groups, a cappella groups, hypnotists, magicians and cowboy poets.
Then there is the grounds entertainment -- a roper and knife thrower, strolling clowns, mimes, pig races, lumberjack, puppet and blacksmith shows, exotic animals and a train ride.
The rodeo's $140,000 purse last year was one of the top 50 in the country, attracting 600 professional cowboys from all over the west.
"We want to provide them with all the stuff they never see. A lot of kids don't know where milk comes from," Denise said.
Max Willis, the CEO of International Association of Fairs and Expositions, based in Springfield, Mo., estimates that 158 million people attend fairs each year in the U.S. and Canada, all of them looking for a farm-based America that today makes up less than 3 percent of the population.
"Maybe you've got back-yard tomatoes or maybe you like to grow roses. Or maybe it's a jar of jam or a quilt or an animal. Where else can you go and compete, whether you're 80 years old and you crochet or you're 6 years old and you've raised a lamb?" Willis said.
"Where else offers that up? You get to display something, and if you win, they'll place a blue ribbon next to your name and you say, 'Good golly, look what I did,' and bust your buttons on your shirt."
Heather Hardy, 11, a Logandale fourth grader who plans to show a steer this year, knows the feeling.
"I like best when you get all nervous about showing, when you're just about to go in," she said.
For information, call (888) 876-3247.
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