Old hands reminisce over Ag Expo anniversary

PORTALES — A lot of reminiscing was taking place during lunch hour Friday at the Jake Lopez Community Center Building on the Roosevelt County Fairgrounds.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Portales Ag Expo, chamber of commerce Executive Director Karl Terry shared the beginnings of the annual event to those gathered for the annual pork chop luncheon held in conjunction with the Expo.

Terry told those gathered that in 1993, it all started with Dallan Sanders and Chase Gentry of the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce and Extension Agent Floyd McAlister, as well as Barry Barkley, who came up with the idea after attending an ag show in California.

"Dallan Sanders and Floyd McAlister were here to catch that idea, and Ag Expo was born," Terry said. "Between Chase and Dallan and Floyd, they adapted what they saw there into a show that would be hometown friendly, and they did a great job."

The expo had 75 vendors in its first year, he said.

"One of the things they wanted to do in starting this is they had producers that were new here and wanted to connect them with the community and the Roosevelt County way of doing things," Terry continued. "They had businesses from all over the region; they still do, even from California and Canada. The other side of it was the chamber looked at the show as a good business time for Portales, and we reap the benefits of vendors and producers coming to town."

Gentry chuckled as he reminisced about the early years helping with the Expo, saying in the Expo's early years, the vendor booths were originally made out of livestock pens.

"We wired them together with bailing wire," he said laughing.

But the one thing that always sticks out most each year?

The weather.

"One thing about it, the weather today let's you know that it's Ag Expo time, is that not right?" Terry asked the audience with a laugh as heavy winds beat against the building. "Over the years, that's the one constant we've had is that the weather is not constant."

"The thing I remember you had to deal with the most was the snow, for many years. You had your best attendance when it was icy," Gentry said with a chuckle, saying he guessed ag producers prefer the fairgrounds to their open fields in the icy weather.