LOVINGTON, N.M. – Just past the main entrance to the Lea County Fairgrounds sits one of the most versatile facilities on the property.
Inside the Yucca Building will rest a variety of projects created by a wide age group, from youngsters showing off their photography skills to older folks displaying their gardening prowess to quilters of all ages eager to share their talents with the tens of thousands of fairgoers who will make their way to the Lea County Fair and Rodeo, set for Friday, Aug. 2-Saturday, Aug. 10, in Lovington.
“We’ve expanded our exhibits considerably,” said Dee Ann Kimbro, a Lea County Fair Board member and the chairwoman of the Yucca Building committee. “In recent years, we’ve had two or three kids in sweepstakes, and this year we have six. That’s 35 more exhibits per child.
“We formed the Yucca Building committee to help get the exhibits back up.”
Kimbro has been instrumental in the panel’s formation and growth. She joined the fair board three years ago and has seen some major upgrades to the exhibit hall since. It’s just an extension of what she does full time as owner of Country Store Quilt Shop, which is six block straight west of the fairgrounds in Lovington.
“We have a lot of kids that show livestock and also put 4H projects in on top of that,” she said. “We have an open youth division, and we have added three more cases for open youth, bringing the total to nine.
“That’s why I wanted on the fair board and why I wanted to form the Yucca Building committee. I have a quilt shop, and quilting has been a big part of the fair. I never thought I should put my quilts into the fair, because it didn’t feel ethically right, and I don’t want to compete against my customers.”
Instead, she’s feeding their thirst for showing at the county fair. Whether it’s quilting, photography, gardening, arts and crafts, canning or other handy projects, the opportunities for locals to show their wares are abundant.
It also opens the door for potential exhibitors of all ages.
“We get them from little all the way up to 90-year-old women,” Kimbro said. “They’re canning, baking, painting, knitting, sewing, crocheting … you name it. Some of those things have really come back. I have seen some things that have been crocheted by kids that look like something I wore in the 1960s.
“Nobody else has any displays or a way to show their projects like we do. We have the most diverse show at the fair.”
It’s also growing. There have been upgrades to the building, which also has the benefit of being air-conditioned. It offers a comfortable setting not only for the exhibitors but also for those who enjoy seeing what’s inside.
“We’d love to see it double in size, and we would love it if that building was busting at the seams,” Kimbro said. “We still have room to grow. This year is going to be different where the produce is with new stands for them, so it’s going to be really nice. We gave the queens the option, and they wanted to use the foyer that is always been empty. We bought beautiful cases, so when you walk in, it will be all about the queens. They will have their own location, and that place is big enough where they can put posts up and their saddles can be behind.
“We still have tables set up where people can go in there and enjoy a meal or just walk through and look at the exhibits. A lot of people that are there working can go in there all day every day and have a place to sit down and relax.”
Most importantly, though, the Yucca Building is a place to showcase the work of people from every age group imaginable.
“I see one family, and not only is the child showing her projects, but so is her mother, her grandmother and her great-grandmother,” Kimbro said. “They have four generations. That says something about our fair.”