WATSONVILLE — Dusty Degas pranced into the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Fine Arts Building on Saturday, Sept. 6, ostensibly to lend emotional support to Donna Giubbini and her friend Karen Borchers as they prepared for the county fair, but he seemed to just want attention — or maybe outside.
Dusty had a red second-place ribbon beside his fair entry, but being a terrier mix, he probably wasn’t aware. His owner, Borchers, had submitted Dusty’s entry into the Animals category.
Karen Borchers and her dog Dusty at the fairgrounds on Sept. 6.
He paints with his tail, said Borchers, who described the end result as impressionism.
“His tail is always wagging back and forth, so somebody suggested that I see if he could paint. So I did,” Borchers said.
Borchers said she got Dusty from a shelter three years ago and they have a lot of fun appearing at different art events. Giubbini, who has been the head of the Fine Arts Department at the Santa Cruz County Fair for more than 15 years, said she started the Animals category for Fine Arts as sort of a joke after seeing Dusty’s work.
“It’s just kind of blossomed since then,” she said.
Blossoms were just starting to show up in the Floral Department, where members of the Garden Cruzers were getting the barn ready for this year’s submissions to arrive. The Garden Cruzers normally meet at 600 Trout Gulch Road at 10 a.m. each Saturday, but held their meeting at the fairgrounds this time.
“We just came in to help out, and maybe get our name on one of the garden spots,” said C.J. Brehm-stern.
Diana Canant, C.J. Brehm-sten, Sharon Shelgren and Janet Slay of Garden Cruzers prepare for the fair.
The group won a red ribbon last year for their outdoor garden, but is on a waiting list this year. Kevin Larkin, Floral Department head, said there will be more outdoor gardens this year than ever, but he still had a long waiting list of people who wanted to create one. Larkin said he also had a lot of submissions for the Kids Arrangements, which are little miniature hay bales this year.
Apparently, there are a lot of artistic youth, because the volunteers in the Youth Building had to create an entire second booth for Youth Fine Arts. Lynn Gainy of Aptos was helping put it all together. She was with a group of volunteers from Aptos Grange No. 800. She said she first got involved in the fair when her kids were submitting art. Her youngest is now 38 and she is still involved.
“It’s very near and dear to my heart,” she said. “We are keeping this tradition alive.”
Outside in the hot sun, Ron Haedicke, marketing director for the fairgrounds, was getting his hands dirty hanging signs and organizing.
“The fair will be a little different, but it’s going to have everything that people expect of the Santa Cruz County Fair,” he said.
Fair ribbons are ready to be awarded.
Some of the changes are required. Live birds and dairy cows were not permitted on-site this year because the state has implemented a ban to prevent the spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus, which is causing outbreaks in both poultry flocks and dairy herds. That means no poultry in the Poultry Barn. Instead, handwoven and hand-spun crafters will be in the barn showing their work and doing demonstrations.
As for the poultry, kids made videos of their birds which were submitted to the judges.
Also new this year is a Slime Lab in the Crosetti Building for kids. Professional wrestling took over the ballpark each day from 3 to 4 p.m. and a new bilingual circus also performed at the ballpark.
Haedicke said he was really excited for this year’s nightlydrone shows.
“I thought last year’s show was over the top, but this year’s beats it,” he said. “The best seats for it are in the grandstand.”
Tad Stearn contributed to this story.
TOP PHOTO: Ron Haedicke, marketing director for the fairgrounds, prepares for the fair on Sept. 6.