Fairgoers enjoy first day

Tony Parra: PNT Staff Writer

The opening of the gates to the Roosevelt County Fairgrounds was greeted by parents and children on their way to the rides, food, barrel racing and dancing.

Wednesday marked the official open to the fair, a tradition which at one time during the 1920s took place in the downtown area off of Main Street.

Many of the people who went on the rides were wearing armbands. The $15 armbands allowed for anyone to get on all of the carnival rides. Standing in front of the Yo-Yo high-swing ride was a group of teens wearing armbands anxious to get on the ride. They had only been on one ride before the Yo-Yo swing ride.

“I would like to come out to the fair every day,” 15-year-old Javier Garza after attending on Wednesday. The fair and the carnival will be open on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. “It’s cool.”

Garza waited to get on the Yo-Yo ride along with friends 11-year-old Amanda Montoya and 10-year-old Emily Montoya. After Emily Montoya was hurled high in the air on a Yo-Yo swing she walked through the fence to eye her next thrill ride.

“I had fun,” Emily Montoya said. “I want to go on the bumper cars next.”

Chris Coddington of Portales said he liked the rides at last week’s Curry County fair better, but still liked going on the Super Loops ride. It was his first time going on the ride, which has a train go about 50 feet into the air and at one point in time has its passengers completely upside down.

He said the Super Loops ride wasn’t at the Curry County Fair this year.

It’s a ride 13-year-old Daniel Lopez and 12-year-old Blake Flen said they would like to tackle, but not on Wednesday.

“We’ll go on the ride on Friday,” Lopez said. “I want to save the best ride for last.”

Jill Burke’s 6-year-old daughter Athena went from a fun house to the Dragon Wagon train ride on Wednesday evening.

“She loves it,” Burke said while watching Athena rush from one ride to another. “She’s been to the Curry County Fair before. She loves the fair and it gives her something to do in this town.”

Burke, who is from Socorro, said she used to live in Clovis and is visiting friends and family in the area.

Something else the fair offers is the music. Kacee Lovato, a Portales High School senior, sang on the stage next to the concrete slab on Wednesday evening. Lovato, who has lived in Portales all of her life, said one of her memories as a child was being too scared to ride the Ferris Wheel.

Lovato has since turned her attention from the rides at the fair to the music.

“I remember when I was young, going to the fair and listening to the bands,” Lovato said. “I love to sing. I’ve been singing since I could talk.”

The music continues the rest of the week. There will be square dancing at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the Jake Lopez Building. The Blackwater Band will perform on Thursday and the Allie Brooks Band on Friday on the concrete slab.

Those performances will be followed by the Allie Brooks Band again on Saturday evening and Revancha Nortena and Corazon Salvaje bands at 5 p.m. on Sunday.