LIFESTYLES
WEEKEND, AUGUST 15-16, 2015
1C
Humans of the Umatilla County Fair
From 4-H to faux-tattoos,
fair brings wide range of
folks to Hermiston
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
T
he smell of bacon-wrapped corn
dogs, the taste of an elephant ear
or the sound of bleating sheep tend
might be what people remember when
they think of the Umatilla County Fair. But
it’s the people who make the fair what it is.
The week brings a cornucopia of voices
to the heart of Hermiston, from local
volunteers who come from generations
of fair participants to the out-of-town
visitors who bring something unique to the
experience.
It took hundreds of people coming
together to make the Umatilla County Fair
possible. The East Oregonian caught up
with a few of them this week.
VOLUNTEERS
Volunteering at the fair can be a hot, dirty
job but even the Umatilla County Fair’s
youngest volunteers aren’t afraid to get their
hands dirty.
Cate Doherty, 7, was at the fair all week,
arriving with her family around 7:30 a.m. to
help out in the small animal barn by cleaning
rabbit and chicken cages and helping put the
animals inside their cages before the fair gates
opened.
“My brother and sister are in 4-H and I’m
trying to help so when I get older I can be in
4-H too and I’ll know what to do,” Cate said.
The outgoing second grader from Herm-
iston, clad in pink and black cowgirl boots,
spent Wednesday morning bounding up to
visitors in the small animal barn, usually with
a chicken or rabbit clutched carefully in her
arms.
Her cousin Alejandro Montellano, 10,
trailed behind her. He was visiting from Sandy
and was pitching in to clean cages. It might
have sounded like hard work, but he said he
was having fun helping out around the barn.
“I like that I get to see the animals, and
sometimes I get to hold them,” he said.
Cate seemed to want everyone to get a
chance to pet a chicken, turkey or rabbit, but
she said she was careful about who she let
actually hold her family’s animals because
she was afraid someone would drop them.
Her favorite animal to show off was her very
own Netherland Dwarf rabbit Pippin, who she
likes to carry with her around the house when
she’s at home so he doesn’t get lonely.
“He’s a very nice rabbit and nice rabbits
deserve to be loved,” she said.
Alejandro and Cate weren’t old enough
to show their animals for 4-H yet, but they
did jump at the chance to participate in a
non-competition showing for younger chil-
dren who wanted practice showing animals
to judges at the fair. Cate had Pippin to show,
and Alejandro borrowed a rabbit from a 4-H
member to get into the spirit of fair week.
“The fair is really fun,” he said.
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Cate Doherty, 7, shows off a Rhode Island Red hen Wednesday at the Umatilla County Fair in Hermiston.
COMPETITORS
It wouldn’t be fair week without a little
competition between friends and neighbors
intent on showing that their animals, crafts,
cakes or produce are the best.
On Wednesday afternoon the competition
was heating up at the Backyard BBQ contest,
where men and women in aprons were
slaving over a hot grill near the Coke Stage.
Greg Shaffer and Aron Garrard had a
batch of onion slices simmering over the
grill and were busy scooping the insides out
of their grilled potatoes for a twice-backed
potato recipe.
“Right now we’re running into crunch
time,” Garrard said as the emcee announced
that the competitors had 10 minutes before
they were supposed to turn in their next dish.
He said one of the hard parts of the contest
was timing everything so that it came out hot
and ready when the judges called for it.
The Hermiston native said what attracted
him to the contest was the requirement to
present a lamb dish. Garrard grew up raising
lambs, so lamb is “really a staple for us.”
“I know how to cook it really well, and
it’s not the easiest dish to make,” he said.
Some requirements, like serving up an
onion-based dish, took a little research to
¿nd the right recipe, while the twice-baked
potatoes the brothers-in-law were working
on was an old family recipe with a “gourmet
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Greg Shaffer, left, and Aron Garrard work on the twice-baked potatoes they
submitted to judges Wednesday at the fair’s Backyard BBQ.
twist.”
Shaffer said the day’s event was “kind of a
family thing,” with various extended family
members sitting in the shade nearby to cheer
Shaffer and Garrard on.
He said he barbecues for his family fairly
VENDORS
ENTERTAINERS
Local fairgoers are bound
to run into some familiar
faces when they browse the
booths at the fair, but part of
the fair’s appeal is also to get
a chance to buy something
out of the ordinary, from
elephant ears to hand-crafted
signs.
Rhea Flores and Manja
Warner were offering a
new twist on temporary
tattoos all week, showing
off a new type of airbrush
tattoo that mimics the look
of a real tattoo and lasts for
days unless removed with
rubbing alcohol.
“They’re sweat and water
proof, which is nice in the
heat,” Flores said.
Flores is from Moses
Lake and Warner is from
Hood River, so the Umatilla
County Fair is one of the
only county fairs the moth-
er-daughter duo team up for.
Warner started Shining
Faces,
which
includes
airbrush tattoos, body paint,
face paint and glitter tattoos,
in about 2003. The former
preschool teacher decided
to make a career out of
decorating faces and bodies
after becoming an increas-
ingly popular feature at her
students’ birthday parties as
a face painter.
She said she was enjoying
the new line of airbrush
After roaming through
barns and booths in the hot
sun, fairgoers often welcome
a chance to put their feet
up in the shade for a few
minutes while watching a
performer.
Big-name bands like
Hinder and Warrant tend
to get all the attention, but
during the day the Umatilla
County
Fair
features
jugglers, magicians and
other entertainers on the
smaller stages.
Curtis Carlyle, a juggler
and comedian from Port-
land, was busy putting on
three shows a day at this
year’s fair.
On
Wednesday
he
wormed his way through
an unstrung tennis racket,
¿tting his entire body
through while juggling a set
of tennis balls.
“I’m not very good at
tennis,” he told the crowd
conversationally as he
juggled. “I’m not half the
man that Serena Williams
is.”
He called up onlookers
to help him with his stunts,
solemnly asking one boy if
he was “ready for the respon-
sibility of pet ownership” as
he handed him a balloon dog
and making the children in
the audience giggle when he
pointed to another volunteer
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Manja Warner demonstrates an airbrush tattoo
technique on her daughter Rhea Flores Wednesday at
the Umatilla County Fair.
tattoos, which came out this
spring, because of the way
it allowed for stencils to
be mixed and matched and
colors to be layered so that
customers could walk away
with a completely unique
design.
“You’re only limited by
your imagination,” she said.
Flores said she and her
mother have found use for
their skills at fairs, music
festivals and parties. They
have also built up a business
with bar and restaurant
owners, who like to call
them in to tattoo waiters and
bartenders on theme nights.
She said people ask her
why she doesn’t transfer
her artistic skills over to
opening a real tattoo parlor,
but she doesn’t like the idea
of hurting people with the
needles.
Instead she enjoys giving
a temporary treat to fairgoers
of all ages, letting them try
out an edgy skull or dragon
tattoo for a few days without
wondering if they will regret
it years down the road.
“I love to see peoples’
reactions,” she said. “It’s a
cheap thrill, it’s not perma-
nent and it doesn’t cause
pain.”
often but this week’s fair was the ¿rst time he
had done it competitively.
“I think there are a lot of ¿rst-timers here
today, which makes it fun because it’s not
as intimidating,” he said. “It’s a way to get
introduced.”
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Juggler/comedian Curtis Carlyle juggles balls
one-handed and backwards into a net Wednesday at
the Umatilla County Fair.
and con¿ded in a loud
whisper that he had “never
stood this close to a real girl
before.”
Carlyle said after the
show that he started juggling
because he had played
sports in high school and
decided after he graduated
that he wanted to continue
to do something active. He
taught himself how to juggle
and once he mastered the
basics began adding crowd-
pleasing tricks.
“Juggling is the perfect
blend of athleticism and
stupidity,” he said.
Juggling isn’t the only
trick he mastered — he
also made balloon animals,
balanced sharp garden tools
on his face and put on a show
with a “super yo-yo.” Once
he had put together a solid
show he started performing
gigs about 10 years ago.
This was his ¿rst time at
the Umatilla County Fair,
and he said he was enjoying
it so far.
“It’s hot and beautiful and
the people are really kind,”
he said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.