Valencia County Fair returns with new activities

BELEN — Get your cowboy boots and belt buckles ready because the Valencia County Fair will again allow in-person attendance with music, a parade, chile cook-off and eating contests.

“It’s a lot better; now people can come and see the fair,” Danny Goodson, president of the Valencia County Fair Board said since last year was whittled down to only livestock events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Last year we couldn’t have any public at all. Everyone has been itching to get out and do something.”

While the livestock show kicks off on Monday with several new livestock events on Aug. 2, many of the activities the fair is known for start on Thursday, Aug. 5, when the commercial booths and the exhibit hall opens to the public.

On Friday, Aug. 6, the fair will hold a recognition for veterans and on Sunday, Aug. 8, will be Senior Day, “with all kinds of things for the seniors that day,” Goodson said.

Instead of holding the junior livestock show on Sunday, this year the board decided to hold it on Saturday night in hopes to improve attendance and engagement. The sale takes place at 6:30 p.m.

“We’re trying it out to see how it goes,” Goodson said. “Some of the people on our fair board thought that we’d get more participation.”

The highlight of the county fair every year is the sale, where those youngsters who had shown animals earlier in the week have the opportunity to auction off their livestock.

“Everyone gets to see the kids and the animals and who placed where and all that good stuff,” Goodson said.

The annual Valencia County Fair parade will continue to sit as the centerpiece of the weekend, beginning at 10 a.m, Saturday, Aug. 7, down Main Street in Belen.

The them of this year’s parade is “Wild Wild West.” The parade is organized by the Greater Belen Chamber of Commerce, and its Executive Director Rhona Espinoza said the board encourages children to participate in the parade by riding their bikes, side-by-sides or go carts.

“They can even come that day and we wouldn’t change anything,” Espinoza said.

The last chance to register a float in the parade is the morning of Friday, Aug. 6. There is a $10 entry fee for floats and $20 for political floats.

The biggest change to the festivities the public will see this year is the absence of the carnival. Goodson said the business they typically contract with for the carnival went out of business during the pandemic and they weren’t able to secure another vendor.

“There just wasn’t one to be found,” he said.

Another activity that won’t be at the fair this year will be the hay stacking contest. According to Goodson, the Farm Bureau, which typically sponsors the contest, cited a lack of water which led to less alfalfa crop.

Although there will be no carnival, there are still activities for the whole family, such as carnival games put together by local youth groups, jumpers, the annual fruit race and the annual toad race with toads provided. Both the fruit race and the toad race will take place on Saturday, Aug. 7.  During the annual Chile Contest, where community members submit their favorite red chile and green chile dishes, as well as salsas, participants can enter into a new category — dessert. Goodson said the dessert category was suggested by several  participants last year, prompting its inclusion.

The chile contest will be on Saturday, Aug. 7, with check-in at 12 p.m. at the gazebo. Judging for the contest begins at 2 p.m.

“I’m just hoping for the best, I’m worried about the rain, of course, but you can’t do anything about the rain,” Goodson said with a chuckle.

Makayla Grijalva

Makayla Grijalva was born and raised in Las Cruces. She is a 2020 graduate of The University of New Mexico, where she studied multimedia journalism, political science and history.