Early start of fair

The avian flu apparently stayed away, but the chickens and rabbits arrived in larger-than-usual numbers last Thursday in an earlier and abbreviated version of the Quay County Fair.

The rest of the Quay County Fair that features beef, swine, sheep, goats, home arts, crafts and other shows is scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday this week.

The poultry and rabbit shows were moved to Aug. 1 for precautionary reasons after an avian influenza outbreak in neighboring Roosevelt County and in the Texas Panhandle earlier this year.

The highly contagious virus had jumped from poultry to dairy cattle in in New Mexico, prompting the Roosevelt County Fair to cancel its poultry show.

Relissa Nials, superintendent of the Quay County Fair's rabbit and poultry barn, said no cases of avian flu have been reported in the county, and the state veterinarian recommended caution instead of cancellation of its poultry and rabbit fair.

Nials said a total of 184 poultry and 46 rabbits were brought to the one-day fair Thursday.

She said those numbers are higher than the previous year, though still lower than the fair's pre-pandemic numbers before COVID-19.

"It was tough because we had to work around schedules" with the change in the date of the rabbit and poultry shows, Nials said. "But I think it went really well."

(The champions and Best of Show winners from the Quay County Fair's poultry and rabbit shows are listed elsewhere in this edition.)

The fair officially opens this week at 5 p.m. Wednesday, with the shepherd's lead show at 5:30 p.m.. and swine shows at 6 p.m.

The fair then opens at 9 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. The sheep and goat showmanship clinic will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, with the goat and sheep shows at 6 p.m. that day.

On Friday, the fair will host a watermelon feed from 2 to 3:30 p.m., with beef shows starting at 5 p.m.

On Saturday, the fair will organize its annual Itty Bitty Rodeo at 11 a.m., a pet parade at noon, the Farm Bureau horseshoe pitching contest at 1 p.m. and a scavenger hunt at 1:30 p.m.

One of the week's big highlights is the Junior Livestock Auction at 6 p.m. Saturday. The fair closes shortly after the conclusion of the auction.

As in previous years since the pandemic, the fair again will not have a carnival.

"We can't find one to come," fair board President Dallas Dowell said.

A complete schedule can be found in the fair book, which can be picked up at the Quay County Extension Office at 216 E. Center St. in Tucumcari.