Fair to start on Thursday

The annual Custer County Fair begins this Thursday, Aug. 6, and a full slate of action is scheduled despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

The action begins Thursday, Aug. 8,  at 2 p.m. with poultry and rabbit entries, as well as open class entries sans livestock and crops. At 5 p.m. the annual kickoff supper will take place, followed at 7 p.m. by the Barnyard Olympics, a competition of team games with events such as goat roping, bucket race, sack race, cow milking, egg race and more. 

The kickoff supper is sponsored by Black Hills Electric Co-op, Farm Credit Services, Pop’s Grocery, Belle Fourche and Phillip Livestock and Bishop Beef. 

Friday begins with more judging entries, as well as rabbit showmanship and horse judging. The poultry showmanship is scheduled for 9 a.m., while cat showmanship begins at 10 a.m., as does sheep and swine check-in.

At 11 a.m., Black Hills Paintball course opens, and judging begins in the Fine Arts and Horticulture buildings at 11:30 a.m.

The poultry show begins at noon, as does the sheep show. The swine show begins at 1 p.m., while the food sale begins at 4 p.m. 

Another free meal is planned from 5-6:30 p.m., a barbecue appreciation dinner sponsored by Custer State Park and First Interstate Bank of Custer. 

At  7 p.m. the annual Hermosa Roping Club Ranch Rodeo and the Ride for the Brand Ranch Bronc Riding will take place, preceded by a calcutta at 6:30 p.m.

Teams of four will compete in fun-filled cowboy events at the ranch rodeo, including the wild horse catch, team doctoring, team penning, obstacle race and more. The winner will be entered in the Central Sates Fair Ranch Rodeo later in the month.

The Ride for the Brand  Ranch Bronc Riding will see local ranchers invited to see whose rider will be able to ride two head of bucking horses in a ranch saddle to take home the Ride for the Brand title. 

From 9 p.m. to midnight that night there will be live music by “Midnight Sun.” 

Saturday sees more open class entries and various showmanship continue. The day kicks off with the livestock exhibits, as well as the dariy goat and meat showmanship. 

At 9 a.m. the Ranch Sort begins, with categories for open, rancher, rancher/ open, youth (16 and under and three-man two-gate). Good Old Driving Days registration begins at 9 a.m. and the event takes place at 10 a.m. Spectators can watch the hitch and drive course, feed race, water race, log pull and more, all horse drawn. The Pee Wee Stock Show, showmanship round robin begins at noon, as do the commercial beef and registered beef shows. At 1 p.m. check-in for the cornhole tournament begins, and the tournament gets underway at 2 p.m. The tournament is double elimination and there is a $50 entry fee for teams.

An hour later the barbecue competition fires up, with public tasting at 4:30 p.m. The Blazin’ Barnyard Barbecue competition is limited to the first 20 paid entries and is an amateur competition. Meat and ice will be provided to all teams. Entry divisions are chicken, pork ribs, buffalo and beef brisket.

Prizes will be awarded in each meat division, along with an overall grand champion. The public is welcome to purchase tokens to sample the contestants’ food.

The fair keeps it rocking Saturday night a concert by Phatt Daddy from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

The fair rolls into Sunday with a pancake breakfast sponsored by Crawford Livestock, Great Western Bank - Rapid City, CBH Cooperative, Hermosa Roping Club, Black Hills Meat Co. and Nelson’s Oil and Gas from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and a Custer County church service at 9:30 a.m. at the fairgrounds.

At 11 a.m. the annual parade will take place through Hermosa and noon is the start time for the annual car show featuring hot rod, classic and antique cars. Parade lineup is at 10 a.m. and judging is at 10:30 a.m.

At 1 p.m. the Ice Cream Crankoff will take place, as well as a horseshoe tournament and the annual Play Day. Play Day is for children up to age 18 and features events such as a stickhorse race, flag race, potato race and egg race.

Ice cream from the crankoff may be created by hand or electric freezers and prizes are awarded for first, second and third places. The public may taste the ice cream at 2 p.m. for 50 cents a scoop.

The horseshoe tournament has a $5 entry fee and is open to men and women with elimination singles and double playoffs.

The car show awards are at 2:30 p.m. and the event winds down with the picking up of entries and premiums from 2-4 p.m.

For more information, visit custercountyfair.com or like Custer County Fair on Facebook at facebook.com/Custer County Fair.