Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Chris Bartlett, a Los Gatos High School sophomore, will enter his goat in the junior livestock competition at the Santa Clara County Fair.

Blue-ribbon hopefuls enter the county fair

By Shari Kaplan

Many local residents are participating in the 52nd annual Santa Clara County Fair, which fills the fairgrounds July 24-Aug. 3 with music, games, rides, plants, animals, arts, crafts and exhibits ranging from homemade pies to high technology.

Among the Los Gatos participants hoping to win ribbons or other recognition are teenagers Chris Bartlett and Donald Welch. Bartlett, a soon-to-be sophomore at Los Gatos High School, has been a member of the Los Gatos 4-H club for seven years and has been entering the county fair in various categories for about as long.

This year, Bartlett, 15, is showing two pigs and one goat in the fair's Junior Livestock division. Although the goat resides on the roomy land of the Bartlett home, the two pigs live on what Bartlett calls the "ag farm" near the back of the LGHS campus.

When showing the pigs, Bartlett says he will be judged on such criteria as how well-groomed the pigs are, how fat they are and how he presents them in front of the judges. The goats are judged similarly, except for the weight issue--goats are raised for milk, not meat, so are not expected to show the corpulence of a pig.

"Pigs are hyper a lot. If you let them out of their pen, they'll charge off. Goats are pretty calm; they like to just kind of kick back most of the time," Bartlett says of the animals' personality differences.

Bartlett says his parents used to raise animals themselves and so encouraged his involvement in 4-H. Although he likes animals, Chris says his future plans probably will not involve a career related to animals or farming.

Welch, 16, will be a junior at Los Gatos High School this fall, where he will be enrolled in metal shop for the third straight year.

A real handyman, Welch has been using hand and power tools to construct things for many years. Through his classes, he has also become adept with computer-assisted drafting and computer-aided manufacturing. This year, he is entering two of his projects in the fair's Industrial Tech category.

One item is a scaled-down model crafted from clear plastic of one of the large, squat military utility vehicles known as Hummers. The other is a spring-loaded centerpunch--a hand-held tool used to make small holes in sheet metal for guiding the head of a drill or other tool.

Growing up with extensive Lego toy sets turned Welch on to building things, he says, and he hasn't stopped since.

"I've always wanted to make things and create things," he says, naming metal as his medium of choice. "Metal is flexible for just about anything. Metalwork just lets me take off and make different things. Most of the things in the world are made of metal or use metal."

Other highlights of the fair include the Human Cannonball, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) Flying "U" Rodeo, Sprint Car races, a demolition derby, the Paul Bunyan Logging Show, the Imagination Gallery, magic and puppet shows, a bungee ride, an international market, parades and a petting zoo. Nightly concerts by headline bands are free with fair admission.

The 52nd annual Santa Clara County Fair, with its "Country Fresh Family Fun" theme, is located at the county fairgrounds on Tully Road, San Jose. For hours and admission prices, call 494-3247.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]