Fair honors Granite Falls couple, but piglets hog limelight

Children crowd around. The littlest ones climb up on hay bales for a better view. A few get into the pen to gently pet a piglet.

“Everybody likes the babies,” said Ed Miller, 64, who shows up year after year with one of the Evergreen State Fair’s most crowd-pleasing attractions.

This year’s baby pigs — “five boys, four girls,” Miller said — were born Aug. 13, just 14 days before the fair opened Thursday in Monroe. They’ll spend much of their time at the fair being suckled by their mama, a sow named Rosie.

By lunchtime opening day, Miller’s pigpen just inside the Swine Barn was surrounded by people. With a little piggy in arms, the Granite Falls man was patient as he posed for cellphone pictures and answered questions.

“Ed always makes sure we have a litter for the fair. He does a fabulous job,” said his wife, Vicki Miller.

This fair season, the Millers are being recognized in a big way. Ed and Vicki Miller are the 2015 Evergreen State Fair Honorees. They were chosen in March by a unanimous vote of the fair advisory board, and were honored on opening day.

“Ed and Vicki are real diamonds for us out here. They’re very special,” said Rick Merrill, vice chairman of the fair advisory board and an Everett attorney. “A couple of my kids had Ed as a 4-H leader year ago. They’re very nice people, and do everything they can for us out at the fair.”

Vicki Miller said Friday that opening-day festivities included a luncheon, where they were given a plaque, and “we cut the ribbon with big scissors.”

With his piglet display and big crowds, Ed Miller is a rock star at the fair. His wife is also a tireless volunteer through 4-H. Vicki Miller, 65, is assistant superintendent in the 4-H Plant and Soil Science Department. She has judged baked goods, and has been a competitor herself. A couple years ago she won a blue ribbon with her chocolate-zucchini cake. “I like to bake,” she said.

For nearly 20 years a food service employee with the Granite Falls School District, she also created a display showing the amount of sugar in different candy bars, soda, and other popular foods.

The couple are proud of their daughter Jenny Miller, who works for a biotechnology company but stays involved at the fair as superintendent of the 4-H Plant and Soil Science Department. It was Jenny, 35, who nominated her parents as fair honorees.

In her nomination letter, she wrote that their involvement began as “active 4-H parents of their kids, Jenny and Joey.” Vicki Miller recalled her children showing their German shepherds, and later their pigs.

Jenny wrote that her parents’ enthusiasm spread to other areas of 4-H, Future Farmers of America, and the fair experience as a whole. She wrote that during the fair’s 12-day run, her father sits in the Swine Barn “from the time the fair opens till closing time, holding a baby pig. … He enjoys nothing more than the wonder of a young person petting a piglet for the first time.”

Along with pigs, the Millers have raised goats, chickens and ducks on their 6-acre Waite Mill Farm, named for the road where they live. Vicki Miller works as a hair stylist at Verease’s Hairway 92 in Granite Falls.

Ed Miller makes sure that his one breeding sow has baby pigs by fair time each year. Once, his wife said, the babies weren’t born in time. A webcam was set up at the fair for “pig watch.” Even with just the expectant sow, he said, people lined up “to feel the mom’s tummy.”

The family endured a tragedy in 2006, when Jenny’s brother Joe Miller died in a car accident. “He was also very involved in 4-H. He showed dogs and pigs, and also helped out at the fair,” Jenny said. She remembered the family first bringing a piglet litter to the fair about 20 years ago. “I was probably 15,” she said.

Today, she and her mother work to keep things running smoothly in the 4-H building. “She helps me out so much in my department,” Jenny said. “She cooks for all the judges and makes sure there’s fresh coffee.”

Children involved in plant and soil science 4-H groups call her “Miss Vicki,” Jenny added. “All our garden kids, they love my mom.”

“Once you get involved it just escalates,” Vicki Miller said.

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.