QUINCY - Despite soaring temperatures and two years of hiatus dulling hype at county fairs nationwide, the Plumas-Sierra County Fair returned to Quincy in the final days of July to much fanfare and stunning numerical success. The last such county fair was held August 7th through 11th, 2019.

Even after (or perhaps because of) the two years of delay, the fair saw attendance not only meet pre-pandemic levels, but in fact exceed them. According to Fair Manager John Steffanic, attendance was up from 2019 on every day except Saturday, averaging around 4,000 people per day. Crunching and aggregating the attendance numbers across all four days and accounting for people who attended on multiple days, paid fair attendance was around 9,000 people. Including unpaid attendees who came on Free Admission Day (Thursday), total fair attendance was in the vicinity of 12,000 - 13,000 people - not bad, given that only twenty-two thousand live in Plumas and Sierra Counties.

Steffanic and other fair staff members also noted another area where the Plumas-Sierra County Fair exceeded relative to others - entries. Many county and even state fairs suffered badly in this category due to the pandemic, with most fairs seeing barely half their pre-pandemic entry numbers. Here, however, entries were down by only 35 percent - a full 15 percent better than the average. Entries were most noticeably diminished in the livestock and floriculture categories, while visual arts stayed roughly static and home arts increased slightly. Already, the fair's staff and board members are mulling over ways to increase competition in next year's fair, sure to be a topic at the next board meeting.

The Jake Jacobson concert was a massive success despite some hiccups in promotion, with a lowball count of 400 - 600 people attending in the fair grandstand and deafening the surrounding area with their applause. Wold Amusements ran the carnival again, bringing some interesting new fair rides that were unavailable during the fair's traditional dates and no doubt helping thousands of people get their adrenaline fix for the year. Street acts were also very popular; some of the best-received were the Powerhouse tap dance group, the salsa steel drum band, and the ever-popular hometown Quircus act. Some of these acts are very likely to be hired again for next year's fair, and already rumors are flying about who could draw people to the grandstand if another Saturday night concert was held then.

One of the biggest highlights of the fair for local youth is the livestock shows and the Plumas-Sierra Junior Livestock Auction, held Sunday morning in the SPI Pavilion. This year, 103 animals sold at auction for a combined total of $354,380 - 18 head of beef, 50 pigs, 15 sheep, 16 goats, two turkeys and a single pen of meat rabbits. The asking prices were frequently accompanied by bonuses tacked onto the sale price to directly benefit the exhibitors.

Plumas Bank, Bret Cook, and Potter Handy Law all pitched in additional money for every exhibitor from Indian Valley, Willo Viera tacked 25 cents onto the asking price for all sheep, and local surgeon Steen Jensen collaborated with board member Chris Kennedy to raise the minimum sale price for sheep to $12 per pound and goats to $14 per pound. There were also animals resold at auction by the initial buyers to raise funds for a charitable cause; an animal resold by Steve and Joanie Utterback from Lincoln raised money for the Barbara Martinetti Memorial Scholarship, while Cal Sierra Title resold one of their purchases to benefit a Loyalton FFA member who lost her animal during the fair.

The sale of champions started off the auction, with impressive premiums garnered for each one.

Grand Champion Lamb: Justus Emsoff (Sierra Valley 4-H) sold his 130-lb lamb to Sierra Valley Feed of Sierraville for $15/lb.

Reserve Champion Lamb: Mia Johnson (American Valley 4-H) sold her 133-lb lamb to PM Supplies for $17/lb.

Grand Champion Goat: Aurora Osburn (Sierra Valley 4-H) sold her 70-lb goat to Robert Church of Sattley for $22/lb.

Reserve Champion Goat: Ryker Osburn (Sierra Valley 4-H) sold his 71-lb goat to Joy Engineering of Portola for $17/lb.

Grand Champion Beef: Daisy Neer (Indian Valley 4-H) sold her 1,266-lb steer to Select Environmental Services of Rocklin for $10/lb.

Reserve Champion Beef: Jhett Neer (Indian Valley 4-H) sold his 1,298-lb steer to Wilburn Construction for $7.25/lb.

Grand Champion Swine: Alexxis Gunnier (Loyalton FFA) sold her 267-lb hog to Leonhardt Ranch of Quincy for $9/lb.

Reserve Champion Swine: Jaycee Pew (Indian Valley 4-H) sold her 287-lb hog to Select Environmental Services for $13/lb.

Grand Champion Turkey: Nathan Smeltzer (Loyalton FFA) sold his 48-lb turkey tom to Joy Engineering for an impressive $50/lb.

Reserve Champion Turkey: Zoey Taylor (Echo 4-H) sold her 38-lb turkey tom to Brian West for $25/lb.

Champion Pen of Rabbits: Katarina Wellise (Treasure Mountain 4-H) sold her rabbits to livestock manager Ron Wilson for a flat rate of $1,400. Wilson resold the pen for fair improvements.

Overall, the county fair is considered to have been a rousing success after two years of hardship for Plumas County in particular. Attendance increased despite (or perhaps because of) the two years of cancellation, entries dropped by notably less than at most fairs, and generosity in the community seems at a recent high given the results of the auction. With the fair now over, the fair's staff and board members will be switching gears to prepare for the upcoming Plumas Homegrown Americana Festival from September 2nd through 4th, but planning for next year's fair is already on the minds of both staff and community members. Will 2023 be even bigger and better? That's a story for next year.