Fair volunteers preserve rural traditions for kids

Published 6:29 am Wednesday, August 29, 2007

MONROE — For Tom and Ann Muchoney, the real Evergreen State Fair is out in the animal barns, away from the carnival rides, the commercial booths and the sound of the speedway.

Longtime fair volunteers, the Muchoneys run the Swine Barn, where they are happy that budding farmers and old hands can carry on the traditions of rural America.

On Saturday, as a novice group of 4-H hog owners got ready to show their pigs, Tom Muchoney explained to the crowd gathered at the swine arena that no leads or halters would be used to guide the pigs.

“They’re too smart. You put a halter on a hog and you have a rodeo on your hands,” he said.

Dressed in their best jeans and button-down shirts, the novice group directs their pigs with canes, tapping the animals’ shoulders to coax a move to the left or the right.

After running around the small show ring for a few minutes, the pigs start making noise.

“Uh, oh, they’re getting mouthy,” Ann Muchoney said from the sidelines.

The fair is the highlight of the year for the Muchoneys, who annually take a couple of weeks vacation from their jobs, park a trailer at the fairgrounds and run the Swine Barn.

The barn houses 4-H and Future Farmers of America groups as well as open-class swine entries from throughout the region. As many as 25,000 people a day visit the barn.

Tom, who turns 62 on Saturday, has worked for Boeing for more than 25 years, and Ann, 59, is a rural letter carrier. They live near Machias on the farm that once belonged to her grandparents, the late Maria and Oscar Osterholm. There, the Muchoneys raise a few hogs and entertain their own grandchildren.

“As far back as I can remember, I would come to the Monroe fair with my grandparents,” Ann said. “It was a big deal, a real social event. We’d get a hamburger and just wander around the barns and displays.”

The Osterholms raised dairy cattle and belonged to the South Lake Stevens Grange. Grandma Osterholm spun her own wool and knitted socks to enter in the fair.

That background set the stage for the Muchoneys involvement in the fair, Ann said.

Her oldest son Torrey was 14 when he began raising weaner pigs for FFA. Then the Muchoneys’ younger kids, Tara, Theresa and Tyler, raised pigs through 4-H.

Tom, who had grown up in Pennsylvania and moved to Snohomish County when he served in the Air Force at Paine Field, enjoyed getting involved as a 4-H parent.

“I was hooked,” he said. “I’ve been coming to the fair for 25 years.”

When the swine superintendent position, a volunteer job, came open about 20 years ago, Tom was asked to take it.

“We don’t remember what year it was,” Ann said. “It just seems like yesterday. Every year is new and different.”

Ed Miller of Granite Falls raises hogs and has enjoyed getting to know the Muchoneys.

“They’re down-to-earth people, but very special,” Miller said. “They’ll do anything for you.”

Most years, Miller brings a sow and her new litter to the fair, something Tom asked him to do as a way to help educate the public about swine.

“If kids get a hands-on experience with a baby pig, they’ll remember that all their lives,” Miller said.

Young people are the focus of most of what the Muchoneys do at the fair.

“Kids are our future, so anything we can do to help them along is a good deal,” Tom said. “The kids learn life skills here when they work together, compete, care for their animals and clean out the barn.”

The Muchoneys also throw a big party for the 4-H and FFA youths each year during the first weekend of the fair and they often feed breakfast to a crowd. The effort is all worth it, Ann said.

“We’ve graduated a lot of kids, and now their kids are coming back and participating at the fair,” she said. “We’ll keep doing this until we don’t. We’re not ready to give up the kids.”

Recognized this year as the Evergreen State Fair Honorees, the Muchoneys wouldn’t spend their vacation any other way.

“You can’t buy this experience or the relationships. We’re a big family up here at the fair,” Tom said. “Pig people have a herding tendency and like to hang together.”