By STEPHANIE BUNKER
The Progress
The Clark County Junior Livestock Association (CCJLA) has been gearing up for months to put on the big livestock show this week during the Clark County Fair. The show is celebrating its 66th year of operation and is hoping for success for the kids and in community support.
The kids that participate in the livestock show have been preparing for this show for months. After their animal is purchased, they are fed the best quality foods to increase the weight at a controlled rate and in a way that makes the animal look its best. Young exhibitors also work with their animals to get them to walk and hold their bodies in a way that shows their qualities off the best.
The show start on Thursday at 10:15 with the market contest. This is where the judge analyzes the animals based on quality of bone structure and muscle.
The pigs start first thing. Then the market lambs show at 1:00, goats at 1:30 and steers show at 2:00.
The Grand Champion Drive ends the market show where the judge determines the best 2 animals of each specie.
To celebrate, there will be a kickball game for the 4H and FFA kids that evening.
Friday is showmanship day. The judge’s eye is on the exhibitor now. Each competitor is evaluated on who can best control their animal and show it off in the most flattering way.
Judging the show this year is Terry Berks from Kentucky. Berks is very experienced after judging well over 900 county, jackpot, and regional shows since the 1990’s across the nation. Berks has judged the CCJLA show twice in the past.
The grand finale of the livestock show is the auction on Saturday which starts at noon. This is, in many ways, the main event of the show.
Each exhibitor seeks out a buyer who attends the auction to bid on the animals. CCJLA encourages those interested in purchasing an animal and supporting the kids to show up at the auction.
There will be a barn dance held in the Glen Hardy livestock barn in the evening on Saturday where the kids that have worked all week long can have some fun.
On Sunday, there will be some fun barn activities happening throughout the day. These include roping dummy competitions and, “Are you smarter than a 4H’er” skillathon. In this match up the public will get to compete against 4H-club and FFA members to see who knows the most.
This year the CCJLA show is working under a new board with Jennifer Reber as president, Justin Hardy vice president, Denise O’Toole secretary, and Maggie McMurray as Assistant Secretary.
This show had its beginnings in 1958 as part of the Helldorado days in Las Vegas. The livestock show has been held every year since, except for the pandemic year of 2020.
The show has bounced around in location over the years before finding its ultimate home at the Clark County Fair. Past locations where it has been held is the Sands hotel, Tulle Springs, the Las Vegas Convention Center, the current Mack Lyon Middle School in Overton, across from the Overton fire station where the Overton Community Center now stands, and at the Logandale Park.
After several years at the Logandale Park several good hearted community members decided that there needed to be an established location for the fair and livestock show to take place. In the early 1990’s men such as Grant Bowler, Ron Lewis, Wayne Newton, Glen Hardy spear headed a project to find a location, acquire funds, and build a site for the use of the annual fair, rodeo and livestock show.
The first CCJLA show held at the new fairgrounds site was located inside the Small Animal Barn without the completion of a roof. The workers simply halted construction for the show and, of course, it rained that year.
The livestock show has held strong throughout the years and many kids have benefitted from the lifestyle, work ethic, and education it has brought.
