The Southwest Washington Fair hosted its opening ceremonies Tuesday morning, Aug. 12, starting just after 11 a.m. on the Community Stage at the center of the fairgrounds to kick off a week of activities at the annual showcase.
The ceremony featured encouraging words and short performances from a range of local icons such as 2024 Little Miss Friendly Hadleigh Westover, members of the fair advisory board, fair staff and a number of local elected officials.
The ceremony also featured a bit of friendly competition between Lewis County Commissioners Scott Brummer, Lindsey Pollock and Sean Swope, who attempted to show off their milking prowess on goats.
The event started off with a warm welcome from Southwest Washington Fair Advisory Board Acting Chair George Dodd before a color guard of local Civil Air Patrol members, including 15-year-old gubernatorial candidate Ethan Brunton, presented the U.S. flag.
Westover led the crowd in the pledge of allegiance while also signing the words in American Sign Language. Anastasia Peterson performed the national anthem.
Lewis County Commissioner Brummer got the chance to introduce new street signs around the fairgrounds honoring local fair icons Lee Coumbs, Mary Jane Fox, Curt Marsh, better known as Boss Hog, and Earl Spencer. He also welcomed and introduced local elected officials attending the event and made a point before announcing them to “push back” against images of politicians as untrustworthy and self interested.
“I want to tell you that I know every one of those folks that I’m about to list off their names and they are anything but,” Brummer said. “They are people of integrity. They are people that want the best for their community, and they are servants of all of us here in Lewis County. So, with that, I want to honor them.”
All told, Brummer recognized 14 local politicians, including council members from the cities of Centralia, Chehalis, Napavine and Winlock as well as fellow Lewis County Commissioner Pollock and Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza.
Next, Dodd introduced his colleagues on the fair advisory board: Sybil Kuhn, Kendra Meek, Edna Fund, Jerry Elliott, Joshua Heinricher and Ross Peterson. Kuhn, Elliott, Heinricher and Ross all took a few moments to speak to the crowd throughout the ceremony, highlighting different aspects of the fair.
Kuhn introduced the Lewis County Rodeo, an event she was heavily involved in organizing. She thanked fair staff and others for supporting and helping make the rodeo happen. The rodeo runs Wednesday and Thursday nights this week. After her words of appreciation, Kuhn shared a poem describing rodeo and the life of the cowboys who participated.
“It’s guts and love and glory,” she proclaimed on the stage, closing by saying, “his legacy is rodeo and cowboy is his name.”
Heinricher shared a bit about the upcoming livestock auction and the many kids hoping to auction off their beloved animals. According to Heinricher, the fair set a record this year with 234 animals being put up for auction. Last year, the fair had 211, which was also a record at the time.
Peterson later drove home a similar point, testifying to the importance of agriculture in Lewis County and the importance of the fair in promoting the industry.
“We are a huge agricultural county, and our students, our kids, our communities reflect that,” Peterson said. “These pavilions over here, they’re stacked to the rafters with agricultural products that reflect the pride of our community.”
Elliott got the pleasure of helping bring the event to a close, leading those gathered in a prayer to lead off one of the biggest cultural events in Lewis County.
In addition to the fair board, the Southwest Washington Fair Association got a chance to speak, represented by Jerry Owens. He highlighted the contributions of the fair association, especially its most well known project, the Little Miss Friendly program. He started by recognizing some of the local royalty, including Lewis County Dairy Ambassador Zeanna Zavodsky and Loggers Jubilee Queen Fairlane Armstrong.
Next, Owens introduced the five 2025-2026 Little Miss Friendly finalists and asked them along with the 2024-2025 Little Miss Friendly Hadleigh Westover to help him tell some horse-themed jokes to the crowd.
Kimber Serl, who later that evening was officially selected and caped as the newest Little Miss Friendly, was asked by Owens, “what do you call the horse that lives next door?” She responded: “your neigh-bor,” earning laughter and applause from the crowd.
The event featured three performances. Miss Lewis County Madeline Scalici and Miss Lewis County Teen Hailey Sturdevant each shared their talents followed by Brian Mittge singing his fair song, an altered version of Sweet Home Alabama affectionately dubbed “Sweet Home Lewis County.”
Scalici read a poem for the crowd that reminisced on the essential aspects of the fair, bringing images of carnival rides, fair food, fun games and summer romance to mind. Sturdevant followed up her peer with a live painting session. Set to music, Miss Lewis County’s Teen hauled out an easel and paint brush and painted the silhouette of a horse live in front of the crowd.
Finally, Fair and Events Manager Fionna Velazquez and Fair Event Coordinator Ashley Hamilton got a chance to speak, thanking their staff and others who contribute to the fair and calling attention to some fair updates, such as daily mutton busting events, a revamped 4-H barn and the fully booked horse class with the new small equine class hosting minihorses.
Before a closing prayer, there was a ceremonial ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the start of fair week.
The Lewis County commissioners then went head-to-head-to-head in a goat milking competition.
In the minute-long showdown, the three commissioners attempted to calm and wrangle their goats and get them to sit still while milking as fast as they could. In the end, Dodd declared Pollock victorious with the most milk collected, though others cried foul as Swope, with limited milking experience, was given a small goat and Brummer claimed his goat didn't have much milk.
Learn more about the fair and plan your visit at https://southwestwashingtonfair.org.
