Associate Farm Editor, Reagan Calk, had the chance to visit with Mary Chris Barth about the Beaver County Fair and Cimarron Territory Celebration coming up on August 22 through 26 at the Beaver County Fairgrounds in Beaver, Oklahoma.
The five-day event will begin on Tuesday at 5 p.m., Barth said, with a farmers’ market and a Chuckwagon meal. Both will be in air-conditioned facilities, she added, and there will be an authentic chuckwagon present.
“Meat will be from locally sourced producers within Cimarron territory,” Barth said.
On Wednesday, the festivities will begin with the Cow Chip Parade Marshall and Queen reception at First Security Bank’s Pioneer room from 2 to 4 p.m., Barth said, then those individuals will be honored later in the day at the Old-Fashioned Church Service at the Presbyterian Church in Beaver.
“That is the oldest church in the panhandle, and it has operated continuously since construction,” Barth said.
Wednesday is also entry day for the fair, Barth said, so from 3 to 7 p.m., both 4-H and open class exhibits will be accepted in the pavilion building. Individuals can pre-enter through the extension office website, but walk-in exhibits are also welcome.
“On Thursday from 4 to 7, the buildings will be open, and our judging will be finished, and at 5 o’clock, we will begin with live music, and a free hamburger feed,” Barth said. “You will enter your young children in a sanctioned tractor pull, and the winners of this peddle tractor pull will get to peddle at the Oklahoma State Fair.”
After 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Barth said events will shift to the arena, beginning with mutton busting, then the KPRA-sanctioned rodeo will begin at 7:30 p.m.
“NEXTera Energy donated the seed money for us to put on this rodeo, which has allowed us to add 7,000 dollars cash money to the competitors,” Barth said. “We will also have a mini-bull riding before the actual bull riding to kind of finish out the evening. It is ten dollars for admission, and 13 and under are free, so a very affordable family evening.”
On Friday from noon to 7 p.m., Barth said the exhibit building and the commercial vendor building will be open. There will be a number of different food vendors on site all day, Barth added.
“Bouncy houses are in conjunction with the museum’s barbeque cookoff, will be available for the children that day,” Barth said. “In the evening, the Beaver 4-H club is hosting a corn hole tournament, and at 6:30, we begin with an antique tractor pull there at the rodeo arena.”
Barth said the day will close off with a free concert performance by the Solis Brothers at 7:30 p.m. Visitors can bring their own ice chest, Barth added, and enjoy the music.
“On Saturday, which is the capstone day, it is also 137 years to the date since they began to organize Cimmaron Territory because we had no law and order and we had no government,” Barth said. “Within 24 years of that is when we had our first fair. So, we are kind of proud to have all of these activities on Saturday.”
Saturday kicks off at 7:30 a.m. with the Beaver County Stock Show for Beaver County exhibitors only. The stock show is for all species, Barth said, including swine, beef, sheep, and goats.
“Then, at 8 o’clock, you can enter the Cow Chip Classic Jackpot, and this is our first jackpot stock show, and we are very fortunate to have Farm Credit of Western Oklahoma to have put in 5,000 dollars cash money which has enabled our local merchants to be able to award some really neat individual prizes to the competitors,” Barth said.
At 10 a.m. on Saturday, Barth said there will be a children’s parade, and then the actual fair parade will take place at 10:30. Those who desire to enter the parade, Barth said, can contact the Beaver Chamber of Commerce.
After the parade, Barth said festivities will return to the fairgrounds, starting with a sanctioned barbeque cook-off hosted by the Jones-Plummer Museum. To sample the cook-off throughout the day, Barth said adults pay $20 and children $10.
“At 1 p.m. the youth begin throwing coke cans rather than cow chips in the rodeo arena, and then at 2 p.m., we have the World Championship Cow Chip Throw, and we begin with dignitaries and then follow through,” Barth said. “I think that will be a fun time had by all, and we will look forward to filling that grandstand again.”
There will also be an acrobatic circus on Friday and Saturday, Barth said, and they will be performing three times each day. The acrobatic circus is not on the latest flyer, she added, as the act just came into the equation.
Barth also gave a little background on the Cow Chip Throw contest.
“The Cow Chip Throw has been held for 52 years, and it was originated by the Beaver Chamber of Commerce and was traditionally held in the spring with a date tied to the signing of the document that structured Cimarron Territory, which was then approved by Congress but died on the President’s desk as they were desiring to open the rest of Oklahoma for settlement,” Barth said. “At that time, there were 25,000 people in the panhandle, and they celebrated that date in the spring.”
During Covid, Barth said they decided to combine the Beaver County Fair and The Cimarron Territory Celebration. Because of the successful combination, Barth added, they have decided to keep the pairing.
