PD Editorial: The soul of the Sonoma County Fair

In an age of Facebook, iPods and selfies, it’s sometimes hard to unplug and experience community in any kind of genuine sense.

Today we pay tribute to those who work hard to create a place where local residents can do just that for three weeks out of the year. It’s called the Sonoma County Fair. The fair, which kicked off its 78th season on Thursday, is about as communal as its gets, made even more so by this year’s ’60s theme of “Peace, Love & Fair.”

As usual, the central attraction is the Hall of Flowers, which comes with the appropriate theme of “Flower Power” - an homage to “Yellow Submarine,” “White Rabbit,” “Purple Haze” and anything related to tie-dye, VW bugs and the Beatles.

But the real heart and soul of the fair each year is not the Midway rides, live concerts or even the horse races. It’s the junior livestock show, where youths active in 4-H and Future Farmers of America showcase their months of work caring and feeding for animals. For many, the money they make from the livestock auctions, which begin today, help pay for college.

Last year, buyers set a new record at the Junior Livestock Auction, spending just shy of $1.2 million on lambs, hogs and other animals. That was up 8 percent from the previous year.

In addition to hoping plenty of people turn out once again to support these young farmers, Sonoma County Fair officials have another goal. The fair has launched a $1.8 million fundraising campaign to create a permanent agriculture education center at the fairgrounds.

During the fair, the building will house an existing exhibit known as Sweet Lil’s Farmery, a miniature farm, featuring baby chicks, ducks and baby pigs. During the rest of the year, the facility will be used for special events, including Ag Days which is put on each spring by the Sonoma County Farm Bureau.

The most fitting aspect of the project is that it will be named in honor of Richard Kunde and his late wife, Saralee McClelland Kunde, two of the region’s most dedicated supporters and contributors to agriculture and to the Sonoma County Fair itself. Saralee Kunde, who died in January at the age of 66, a dairy-farmer’s daughter who drew up raising livestock. She and Richard Kunde met during the county fair some 30 years ago.

Now, the effort to raise $1.5 million for the facility and $300,000 for an agricultural education endowment fund is being called a “barn-raising.” You can’t get much more community-minded than that.

The fair runs daily, except Mondays, through Aug. 10 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Wine Country Racing began Friday and will run generally from Wednesday to Sunday each week. General admission is $11. Those under 6 are free. Tickets for children ages 7-12 are $5, with a variety of discounts available on certain days to cover the cost of admission and carnival rides. Seniors are free on Thursdays. Don’t miss it.