A day on the farm at Sonoma County Fair

People have different reasons for attending the Sonoma County Fair. For some, it’s about the food. For others, it’s about the rides.|

People have different reasons for attending the Sonoma County Fair.

For some, it’s about the food. For others, it’s about the rides.

For Dede Puma of Santa Rosa, it’s about maintaining a connection with her youth. Puma, who enjoyed the fair’s sheep-shearing contest Sunday from the stands at Jamison Ring, recalled growing up on an East Coast farm.

She said attending the fair year after year is her way of continuing to support that life.

“It’s good for city people to come and see how hard it is to be a farmer,” she said.

The fair’s first weekend wrapped up Sunday in mutton-bustin’, sheep-shearin’, goat-milkin’ style with its annual Farmers Day.

The day brought together longtime farming and ranching families from across the region, as well as city slickers who were eager to slip on a hat and cowboy boots - or to pretend they had.

The day’s main events were held at Chris Beck Arena before a large crowd watching from the grandstands.

Maddie Vanoni, 11, who is a member of a longtime Sonoma County ranching family, won the wild goat milking competition with her partner, Nolan Miller, 10.

Maddie didn’t much care for the taste of the milk after she accepted a challenge from the ring announcer to drink some.

However, a large belt buckle and a blue ribbon she earned for winning the competition were more to her liking.

Maddie said the event was “hard and fun.”

Two-year-old Gigi Garduno probably won’t remember milking “Sweet Lil,” a plastic cow that held real milk inside. But her parents took lots of photos of her taking turns at the fake udders, ensuring a lifetime of memories.

The girl’s father, Mayolo Garduno, said the family is under no illusions that they live the farming life.

“We’d like to think that we are, now that we have a garden and some chickens. But that’s all we’re going to get,” the Santa Rosa man said.

John Koene, on the other hand, has an appreciation for the work that goes into farming. He gave up a career as a hair stylist to become a landscaper and sheep rancher. He has about 40 sheep on leased property in Petaluma.

Koene, who lives at Muir Beach, also considers himself a professional sheep shearer, having earned a certification from a Hopland school affiliated with the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Koene, who took part in Sunday’s shearing competition, said he enjoys the camaraderie of other competitors who make the rounds of fairs, where they try to best one another.

“If you’re good and fast, you make money. If not, you work really, really hard and make no money,” Koene said.

The fair resumes Tuesday. More information can be found at www.sonomacountyfair.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.

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