Pioneer celebration set

Pioneer Days is long-standing feature of the Roosevelt County Fair honoring community involvement and pioneering spirit.

The Pioneer of the Year Awards will be presented during the a gathering of Roosevelt County pioneers at 9 a.m. Thursday at Jake Lopez Building at the fairgrounds.

Howell Merrick and Elrie Capps were honored in 2003 and Walter and Ida Jean Clark and Rowena Crume-Preuit were the 2004 winners.

There will be music and entertainment which starts at 9:30 a.m.

Pioneer Association President Joy Gardner said the award is given out to county residents who help out with the fair and are involved in the community.

Gardner remembers attending the Pioneer Days with her father during the 1960s.

“My dad used to go and he loved to see people he normally wouldn’t see any other time of the year,” Gardner said. “It (fair) still has its small-town feeling. The Senior Citizens day gives us old folks a chance to see what the fair is all about.”

There is free admission to the fair for senior citizens from 8 a.m. to noon as part of the Pioneer Days celebration.

“I hope we continue to have it (fair),” Gardner said. “The fair means a lot to the people in the community, especially to the people in farming areas. Their kids are able to display their hard work at the fair.”

Charlie Dobbs who was playing dominoes with his friends Tuesday at the Senior Citizen Center, said he planned on attending the Pioneer Days celebration again this year.

“It’s a good thing,” said Dobbs, who has been living in Roosevelt County since 1934. “It’s a gathering of old timers.”