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A Look At the Cache County Fair, Livestock Exhibits, During The Pandemic

Luke Gibbons showcasing his holstein heifer in the comercial dairy market show at the Cache County Fair on Thursday

Despite the pandemic, the 2020 Cache County Fair continued on with the theme "Good and Plenty in 2020." One of the traditions this included was 4-H livestock shows. 

“My mom's been really strict about this. So she was kind of like on edge about us coming to shows but in the end she let us come,” said Eneli Jenson.

Eneli Jenson is a member of her school’s FFA and has been showing dairy cattle with 4-H for most of her life. Because of the ongoing pandemic, her family has limited the number of livestock shows they’ve attended.

Over in the sheep and goat barn at this year’s Cache County Fair, Mackenzie Jordensen said she has also felt effects of the coronavirus at the fair.

“I have noticed that people are a little bit more cautious with like what they do and like what they're touching and that kind of stuff. I have noticed that like, people will kind of stay a little bit further away from you and that's about it," said Jordensen. "Not much.”

Cami Jacobson grew up showing livestock and this is the first time she has bought her kids to a fair. They have had the option for online shows all season but opted to come to the in person show this week.

“We did not participate on any online I really felt like it was good for my kids to be here in person. And that was something that they really needed," Jacobson said. "And so we were really wanting to support the live in person show.”

The number of people that participate in the fair really just depends on the year, animals and the weather said Lane Parker, the Cache County Fair Manager. When it came to having the fair this year amid the pandemic, feelings were mixed.

“We leave it up to people's personal judgement," said Parker. "We recommend that they wear a mask and that they social distance or physical distance. But as you walked around here and maybe taking some pictures, you've seen that very, very few masks and people are getting right in talking to their friends and enjoy and being here. And obviously if they were really scared about it, they wouldn't be here.”

The fair and livestock shows will continue throughout the weeked. Most of the shows are only open to Cache Valley residents.