Youth day events put kids at center stage

Clarence Plank: PNT staff writer

Children not old enough to show animals competitively at the Roosevelt County Fair were given the chance Saturday by a variety of sponsors, including the Kiwanis Club.

Events included a pet show, turtle race, stick horse race, pig race, dummy roping and goat branding

Skyler Davis, 8, of Roosevelt County competed in the roping contest. He won the 8 year-old category and the overall.

In the overall, he and Baylee Oder, 9, were tied in their first rope off, which they tied again. Davis beat out Oder for the overall.

“It was hard, but I still tried,” Davis said. “Baylee still tried hard, too. I was a little nervous going in.”

Davis won both events last year in the roping contest.

Children competed in different age groups in the stick horse race with every contestant earning a ribbon for participating.

The kid events are a longtime tradition at the fair. Jeanell Paiz, kid events board member, said the events give children something to do.

“The older children get to show the animals, so they decided to have something for the children who are in pre-school and kindergarten,” Paiz said. “It is a lot of fun for the children and the grandparents.”

The Roosevelt County Fair turtle race was sponsored by local business

Results for all the events at the Roosevelt County Fair will be printed Sept. 20 in a special edition of the Portales News-Tribune.