At the Fair: Pigs Fly and Sheep Misbehave

They grunt and snort around the corner, kicking up wood shavings as pint-sized children cheer for their favorite racer.

"Come on, Sourdough Jack, you can do it!" screamed one boy.

"Bob! Bob! Bob!" yelled another.

This was the All Alaskan Pig Race at the Alameda County Fair on Wednesday and those pigs couldn't have been more ready to race. Their fuzzy little bodies squirmed as they waited in the gates for the whistle, and then off they went, in a riot of oinking and pink skin.

Each child spectator at the Ag Venture Park pavilion picked a pig to root for — Soapie Smith or Bob or Al Pigone (a nod to Al Capone). Some even led their section of the crowd in cheering.

These baby pigs race for only six months and then retire. They travel around to fairs entertaining kids and parents. Afterward, kids can get their pictures taken with the pigs, who amazingly, sit still long enough for the flash to go off.

Organizers joked that the pigs had to stretch in the locker room — get limbered up before the race. Once it's race time, there's no tolerance for a pulled hammie, they said.

"We come every year," said 35-year-old Amy Collins, who was at the race with her four children.

"This is one of our big summer things. We like the animals better than the rides — we bring our own food and just sort of make a day of it.

"Each kid picks a pig and then they yell for them the whole time," she said.

Bob, the pig with the least imaginative name, won the race Wednesday afternoon.

To read about the company that puts on the races, click here.

Just a few minutes later and only steps away in the Country Coral was the Mutton Bustin' competition, in which kids under 60 pounds get to ride a sheep rodeo-style.

Steve Sparacino of Santa Cruz gave his 3-year-old daughter, Sophia, a pep talk just like a trainer would in the boxing ring.

"I'll be rooting for you the whole time," he said to his daughter, a sprite of a girl at only 39 pounds. The helmet she wore was almost bigger than she was.

"I'll be saying, 'Sophia! Sophia!'"

She gave him five.

Sophia wasn't nervous, said her dad.

"We saw this and she said, 'I want to ride a sheep!' so we signed her up. I don't think she really knows what she's in for."

Basically, mutton bustin' is when a child sits atop a sheep and holds on for dear life as it bucks and runs around a caged pile of dirt. The goal is to hang on for six seconds or longer.

Before each event, Buster, the mascot, comes out and dances to AC/DC, or shakes his body to Gloria Estefan's Conga till he can't stand it any longer. On Wednesday, highs were in the 90s, so Buster definitely was being a good sport in all that fake wool. His antics let contestants get a little laugh in before their gates opened.

Most of the contestants held on for two seconds before their bodies slid off into the soft dirt. Organizers scooped them up, cleaned the dirt off their faces and sent them back into the corral for safekeeping.

Both of these events — the pig races and mutton bustin' — will happen throughout the fair's two-week run.

Click here for the fair schedule.

Each day at the fair, patrons also can see local 4-H members show off their livestock or visit a petting zoo with two-day-old piglets. (See the photos attached to this article.) They can even buy a baby chick or duck. All of the animal events/exhibits are past the rides and food, toward the back of the fairgrounds.