Evergreen State Fair ready to shine in Monroe

MONROE — Adison Tubbs knows how to multitask.

The high school senior 4-H member brushed her Holstein show cow, Skor, on Wednesday afternoon as the 17-year-old prepared for the Evergreen State Fair, which begins Thursday.

She’s been here each of the last 10 years, owns a number of awards from the fair and is excited once again for one of Snohomish County’s biggest events of the year. Tubbs is slated to be involved in a number of events, including fitting and showing (how animals and humans work together) and helps teach at the judging clinic. Essentially, she’s going to teach kids on how to judge cows.

Oh, and to top it all off, she’s going to be doing a dairy demonstration where she’ll show her milking technique — and then be judged on that as well.

Snohomish County has a deep history with dairy, though it has faded through the years. Tubbs said she feels like she’s helping continue that tradition. Even more, she’s also part of the Snohomish County Dairy Women Association, a organization dedicated to providing people like Tubbs an opportunity to shine.

“I love it, and it gives us a lot of opportunities, lot different routes,” Tubbs said of the fair and 4-H. “If you want to go into the Ag industry, if you don’t. And it’s connection building too.”

The Evergreen State Fair runs Thursday through Thursday, takes a break on Aug. 28 and resumes from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2. The fair attracts more than 250,000 people each year, county officials said.

This year’s theme is “Bright Lights and Summer Nights,” which Evergreen State fair manager Mike Ohlsen said was the brainchild of one of the fair board members.

“I think it was a perfect fit for what we do here,” Ohlsen said.

Monster Trucks will have a prominent place in the fair’s early slate of events at the Grandstands. Country music fans will be treated to a Josh Turner performance on Aug. 26. Martina McBride will follow on Aug. 27 and Flo Rida will close out the Grandstands music acts on Aug. 30.

Over the next two weeks, competitions for animals are in store, including a cat costume contest on Thursday.

Throughout the fair, some acts will perform daily, including contestants at the International Lumberjack Show. Duck races, Aztec dancers and an antique tractor display are also on the daily docket. Daily live music and performances will be at the Courtyard Stage.

Near the end of the fair, car enthusiasts can enjoy demolition derbies and figure eight races.

The Northwest Professional Rodeo Association will present three nights of rodeo at 7 p.m. daily from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2.

Each year, the fair also honors a family who has farmed in Snohomish County for 100 years or more. This year’s honoree is the Stecher family in Snohomish. Tim Stecher and his wife, Cheri, are retired teachers and are the fourth generation to farm the family’s 40 acres.

The family has raised dairy cows, cattle and made hay for generations, a county press release announcing the honorees said.

Community Transit offers routes to the fair from Everett.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the date for the Flo Rida concert.

Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @jordyhansen.