LITTLE VALLEY — The 173rd annual Catta-raugus County Fair will kick off Monday and run through Aug. 9 at the fairgrounds in Little Valley.

There are many familiar acts and events return-ing to this year’s fair, as well as some new ones and one that’s returning after a long hiatus.

Trace Adkins, who last performed at the 1999 fair, will return for Thursday night’s country music concert.

Nell Fellows, who helps run the fair offi ce, said ticket sales for Adkins’ show are going well.

“The track is almost sold out,” she said. There are still bleachers and lots of good grandstand seats available, she added.

The cost is $35 for the track, $30 for the bleach-ers and $28 for grandstand seats. The concert tick-ets are in addition to gate admission.

Concert tickets are available at the fairgrounds

offi ce in the Corporate Building by calling 938-9146. Visa, MasterCard and Discover credit cards are ac-cepted.

Admission through the fair gates is $10, includ-ing all the rides. Advance tickets are $7 and are available at all Cattaraugus County Bank locations, Olean-area Community Bank locations and the fair offi ce through Sunday.

“The concert goes on rain or shine,” Fellows said.Grandstand shows the fi rst three nights of the

fair are free. The popular demolition derby is slated for Monday night, the Pro-Stock Tractor Pull is set for Tuesday, and Figure 8 Racing is scheduled for Wednesday.

Adkins is set for Thursday night, Monster Mash Trucks are on for Friday night for $6 a person, and the Big Truck Pull is scheduled for Saturday at $6 per attendee. There is also a $6 admission for Sun-day night’s demolition derby. Registration will be accepted over the phone or in person the day of the demolition derby.

Olean Times Herald fi le photoChildren enjoy one of the many rides available annu-ally at the Cattaraugus County Fair in Little Valley.

By Rick MillerSpecial to Cattaraugus County Fair

Olean Times Herald fi le photoVisitors check out one of the many attractions at 2014’s Cattaraugus County Fair in Little Valley.

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What’s new this year?Vincenta’s White Tigers and The Wolf Pack

are new to the fair, Fellows said. Some of the free grounds entertainment that will return include the Commerford Petting Zoo, Indian River Lumberjack Show, Swifty Swine Racing Pigs and Grandpa Cra-chet. There will be a new chainsaw carver, too.

Fair ScheduleSUNDAYSetup day9 a.m. — Open Horse Show.10 a.m. — Antique Tractor Pull.

MONDAYOpening day8 a.m. — Western Horse Show.10:30 a.m. — Goat Show.4 p.m. — Midway opens.4:30 p.m. — Mini Horse Show.7:30 p.m. — Demolition Derby.

TUESDAY8 a.m. — Dressage Horse Show.8:30 a.m. — Open Class Holstein Show.9 a.m. — Swine Show.1 p.m. — Midway opens.4 p.m. — Horse Gaming Show.4 to 6 p.m. — Mercy Flight demonstration.5 p.m. — Rabbit/Cavy Show.7:30 p.m. — WNY Pro Pulling series.

WEDNESDAYYouth Day: Ages 15 and under $6 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.8 a.m. — English Horse Show.9 a.m. — Junior Department Dairy Showmanship.Noon — Sheep Show.1 p.m. — Midway opens.3 p.m. — Horse Driving Show.7 p.m. — Cowboy Mounted Shooting at Horse Arena.7:30 p.m. — Figure 8 Racing (grandstand).

THURSDAYSenior Citizens Day: Senior admission $6 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.9 a.m. — Junior Department Beef Show.9 a.m. — Rabbit/Cavy Showmanship.1 p.m. — Midway opens.5 p.m. — Dog Knowledge/Obedience Shows8 p.m. — Trace Adkins concert.

FRIDAY9 a.m. — Open Beef Show.9 a.m. — Alpaca Show.10 a.m. — All-Breed Horse Show.10:30 a.m. — Grand Champion Livestock Showmanship.1 p.m. — Midway opens.2:30 p.m. — Barnyard Olympics.6 p.m. — Monster Truck Pit Party (included in grandstand admission).7:30 p.m. — Monster Mash Trucks.

SATURDAY8:30 a.m. — Open Class Dairy Show (Colored and Guersey Breeds).10 a.m. — All Breeds Horse Show.1 p.m. — Market Class Animal Sale.1 p.m. — Midway opens.4 p.m. — Drag racing, 4-by-4 gas and diesel pickups; USAEast Sanctioned Big Rig Pulling Series with20,000-pound semis, street-legal semis and 4-by-4trucks.

SUNDAY9 a.m. — All-Breed Horse Show.1 p.m. — Midway opens.2 p.m. — Award presentations.5 p.m. — WNY Championship Small Car DemolitionDerby, followed by Large Car Demolition Derby.

Olean Times Herald fi le photoVisitors can expect to see plenty of horses, livestock and other crit-ters on display at the annual Cattaraugus County Fair in Little Valley.

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Although how children are entertained today differs from 40 years ago, Sam Bowman says there’s one element that’s remained steadfast: the joy of laughter.

With that in mind, Bowman continues his role behind-the-scenes as “America’s favorite Granpa” in the Granpa Cratchet Show, one of several grounds entertainment scheduled for this year’s fair.

“With all the changes in the world and changes in kids and how they are raised, some of the same things stay the same,” he said. “Everybody loves to laugh and kids need the basic lessons — the golden rule, safety fi rst, do your chores. Just good ol’ lessons I learned growing up on the farm in central Indiana in the 1950s.”

So through the art of puppets, Bowman devel-

oped Granpa Cratchet, a character Bowman admits is a “little grumpy” and “tells it the way it is.” But through the performance fi lled with slapstick com-edy and craziness are those essential life lessons.

The story of Granpa Cratchet — both his stage show and the miniature car he can be spotted travel-ing around the fairgrounds in — dates back before the

By Rich PlaceSpecial to Cattaraugus County Fair

Continued on page 6

character itself, when Bowman was assigned to work with children in his local church in the mid 1970s.

He purchased puppets from a local toy store and soon after took them to a local elementary school where he was teaching. It’s there the story of Bow-man’s ability to connect with children through pup-petry begins.

“I had one little girl I was supposed to tutor who had been a victim of abuse and would not relate to me at all,” he said. “She wouldn’t talk to me, so I start to pop (a puppet) up in the box and taught her through the puppets. She would talk to the puppet and, of course, she’d look back and forth and see me

doing the voice.“Over the process of time, that warmed her up to

me and I was able to leave the puppet behind. That worked out every, very well. She said I was the fi rst man who kind of ‘broke the barrier’ and got through to her.”

A hobby became a company and grew from there. The puppetmobile concept — which is expected to drive around the fairgrounds at the Cattaraugus County Fair this year — was developed around 1980.

At one point, Bowman said his company had seven units running at one time. According to his website, the company reached its “high water mark” in 1995 with 100 contracted events, presenting over 8,000 shows.

“Right now we average about 30 or 35 full-length events a year and play most of those in the summer,” he said. “That makes for a nice-sized company.”

The Granpa Cratchet show rotates through six different shows — one show each year — and this year it’s “Chicken Pot Kaplowie” and teaches the lesson of working together. The shows have changed little in regard to content and message but have adapted with the times, Bowman said.

“They are much more interested in what is going on backstage now,” he said. “They know it’s a pup-pet and they’ve got that all fi gured out, they are way ahead of that now. So we tried to change it up for the kids to keep it interesting and fun and on their level.”

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About 10 years ago, a brand new traffi c signal was installed at the intersection of Highway 371 and Highway 2 in Sarepta, La.

The new signal — in all its three-color glory — replaced a red-and-yellow fl ashing light that had blinked countless times for commuters headed south to Shreveport or traveling about 10 miles north into Arkansas.

The town of less than 1,000 people proudly boasts on its website: “Whether you are looking for a quiet place to retire or a down home atmosphere to raise a family, Sarepta is the place for you.”

This is where the story of Trace Adkins begins. More than fi ve decades later, the story will continue Thursday, Aug. 6 when the country musician per-forms at the Cattaraugus County Fair in Little Valley — another one stoplight town.

“When I wasn’t hauling hay, mowing yards, or going to school I was hunting and fi shing — because that was really all there was to do,” Adkins wrote in his autobiography, “A Personal Stand.”

Of course, the Grand Ole Opry inductee has come a long way since his childhood days in Sarepta. His songs in recent years have ranged from the light-hearted “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” to the solemn “Arlington” and “You’re Gonna Miss This.”

In 1996, Adkins debut album, “Dreamin’ Out

By Rich PlaceSpecial to Cattaraugus County Fair

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Loud,” had four singles that all ranked in the Top 20 on the country music charts. “(This Ain’t) No Thinkin’ Thing,” a song about not overthinking love, soared to the top of the charts. Adkins has now released a dozen studio albums — most recently “Love Will…” in 2013 — and a handful of compilation albums.

His career in music has stretch beyond making albums and performing at concerts. This resume now includes being a television personality as a 2008 con-testant on “The Celebrity Apprentice” and fi nished as the runner-up to Piers Morgan.

There’s no doubt Adkins has had plenty to sing about since growing up in Sarepta. But in his world, where “Just Fishin’” can mean something so much more, the 6-foot-6 country superstar is still a small town boy at heart.

Tickets for the Trace Adkins concert are $28 for grandstand seating, $30 for bleachers and $35 for track seating and are on sale now at the fairgrounds or by calling 938-9146. Price of concert tickets does not include gate admission.

The concert is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6 at the fairgrounds.

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LITTLE VALLEY — Some marksmen have dif-fi culty hitting targets while standing still. Try being accurate atop a galloping horse.

The Stagecoach Outriders have a knack for it, though, and they’ll demonstrate their shooting prow-ess again at this year’s 173rd annual Cattaraugus County Fair. The Outriders — a member group of the national Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association — will present a double world point qualifying competi-tion at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Horse Show Arena.

The show is limited to 25 entrants who must be

By Kelsey BoudinSpecial to Cattaraugus County Fair

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Olean Times Herald fi le photoTom Hockran, president of the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association, hits a balloon while riding Zan during an event at the 2014 Cattaraugus County Fair.

members of the CMSA, said Outriders President Tom Hockran. A majority of the Outriders members are from Chautauqua County.

“It’s always a popular crowd-pleaser,” said Hock-ran, who lives in Bemus Point.

It’ll be the group’s third-straight appearance at the Cattaraugus County Fair, Hockran added.

“A lot of people at the fair, and, of course, it’s loud,” the shooting club president said. “They’re .45-caliber, black-powder bullets, and they’re loud. When we start shooting, people start looking around to see what’s going on.”

Outriders members will begin the show with a skill demonstration. That will be followed by scored rounds of single-action dual pistols, shotguns and rifl es.

A succession of 10 balloons on poles roughly 5 feet tall serve as targets, Hockran said.

“We use two single-action pistols with fi ve shells in each revolver. It’s the older-style single-action, where you have to cock it every time,” Hockran explained. “You’re riding your horse, and it’s a timed event, so, obviously you would want to go as fast as you possibly could and still hit the targets. It’s pretty

neat stuff.“We also do a shotgun round during the demo,

where you shoot the fi rst fi ve (targets) with the pistol, and you put that away and you pull (out) a shotgun, drop the reins, use two hands on your shot-gun and shoot the balloons as you’re coming back across.”

Participants will gain points toward the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association’s ongoing competition in different classes, Hockran said.

The Stagecoach Outriders also performed Mon-day night at the Chautauqua County Fair in Dunkirk.

For more details and entry information, visit cmsaevents.com.

Photo courtesy Stagecoach OutridersThe Stagecoach Outriders will demonstrate both their equestrian and shooting skills in a demonstration at the horse show arena at the Cattaraugus County Fair.

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This year visitors at the Cattaraugus County Fair can come be a part of “The Wolf Pack” and learn about these often misunderstood four-legged crea-tures.

Sadie Sandlofer, handler for the wolves that will be brought to the fair, says their spot on the grounds will be more of a place for demonstration than a “show.”

“We bring them out and tell each group a story and do natural behaviors that work their minds and physical ability,” she said. “They not riding a bike or anything.”

When asked how she is able to work so closely with the animals safely, Sandlofer said, “We treat them respectfully, that’s the key — not threatening them and not making them uncomfortable.”

The Wolf Pack demonstration is all about teach-ing visitors about the important part wolves play in nature and inviting them to the “Discovery Zone,” where they can learn hands-on.

“We try to expand our focus to show how im-portant wolves are in the ecosystem. They balance things,” said Sandlofer. “They are often treated like a nuisance and killed. We need to keep them around because they have an important role in the environ-ment.”

During the show an audio piece is played describ-ing how the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park changed when the wolves were removed and then reintroduced after 70 years to help restore balance.

Sandlofer said the wolves also have a fascinating family dynamic.

“The wolf pack is an amazing structure that’s re-ally family-oriented and they’re incredibly protective of each other. We try to focus on that in our show as well,” she said. “Sometimes we’ve seen older females

adopt orphaned cubs and take care of them, it’s pretty amazing.”

When the wolves aren’t “performing” they live at Sandlofer’s family 62-acre animal sanctuary, Trinity Heritage Ranch, in Lynchburg, S.C.

Proceeds from their traveling shows go toward improving their facility that has been home many different animals, in addition to wolves.

“There’s a huge need for places for wolves to go, mostly because of ‘wolf-as-pet’ situations,” said Sand-lofer. “People think they’re cute then they grow into big aggressive wild animals they don’t know what to do with. We do these educational shows to raise fund to improve our sanctuary for them.”

By Christa NianiatusSpecial to Cattaraugus County Fair

The Cattaraugus County Fair is proud to welcome Vicenta’s White Tigers as part of its grounds enter-tainment this year.

Vicenta comes from a long line of circus perform-ers on both sides of her family. She was born into the great Pages performing dynasty. She grew up sur-rounded by all kinds of animals — not just dogs and horses but camels, elephants and tigers, too.

Her feline co-stars are Spirit, Fiona, Kia, Mikayla, Mohan and Taurus, who are all white-striped Bengal tigers — four females and two males.

While Vicenta is an extraordinary tiger trainer, her circus repertoire also includes impressive aerial skills such as flying trapeze, lyra and roman rings.

She made her first public appearance when she was 4 years old. Her first solo appearance was made at age 8 in an act featuring four ponies. At age 12, she was already performing her aerial rings.

Growing up on Circus Pages around aerial and animals, Vicenta decided to take after her grandfa-ther’s footsteps, working with tigers.

First with her grandfather and father by her side and after many years of training she developed this beautiful act. Vicenta has six children, her tigers, raised from age 14 months and that’s the special bond apart from others.

LITTLE VALLEY — There will be plenty of horse-power and excitement at the Cattaraugus County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Aug. 8, when the fair wel-comes back the U.S.A. East Sled Pulling Big Rig Truck Pull.

New this year will be the 4x4 and diesel pickup single elimination drag racing beginning at 4 p.m. Trucks may enter from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the fair-grounds on that day. Following the drag racing will be the 20,000 lbs. modifi ed semis, street legal semis and local 4x4 gas and diesel pickup pull. Trucks may enter until 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 8 at the fair.

Spectators get this show for an additional grand-stand charge of $6. Rules and entry information available at cattarauguscountyfair.com, the fair offi ce or at fullpullproductions.com.

Another returning event is the WNY Pro Stock Tractor Pull on Tuesday, Aug. 4. Tractors and super diesel and gas pickups will be pulling beginning at 7:30 p.m. This event is included with the $10 gate admission.

Keeping with the theme of motors and horsepow-er, the fair will also welcome back by popular demand the Championship Double Figure 8 racing on Wednes-

day, Aug. 5. Beginning at 7:30 p.m., drivers will out-race and outwitother drivers for the chance to win a $2,000 purse. Car and driver rules are available at the fair’s website, at the fair offi ce or by visiting jmproductions.com. This event is included with the $10 gate admission.

Submitted photoFigure 8 racers make their way around the track during a pre-vious fair. This year’s Figure 8 racing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Submitted photoThe U.S.A. East Sled Pulling Big Rig Truck Pull returns to the Cattaraugus County Fair this year on Saturday, Aug. 8.

LITTLE VALLEY — The monster trucks will be back again at this year’s Cattaraugus County Fair.

The popular Bigfoot will return for another year, but the other trucks will be new to the lineup, said Mary Charlesworth, wife of Cattaraugus County Ag-ricultural Society President John Charlesworth, who helps run the fair offi ce.

Besides the jumping and crushing of the grand-stand show, boys and girls will get an up-close-and-personal look at the monster trucks and drivers at a pit party prior to the Aug. 7 night show.

By Rick MillerSpecial to Cattaraugus County Fair

Continued on page 15

The $6 grandstand fee includes a wristband to go down on the track and meet the drivers, see the trucks up close and take photos. There will be souve-nirs for the fi rst 200 from the grandstand.

Mary Charlesworth said she and her husband saw a monster truck show in Buffalo several years ago that included a meet-and-greet for kids before the show.

“Why don’t we do that?” she asked. It’s been a staple of the monster truck show ever since and is one of the week’s most popular events.

This year’s show will again be presented by JM Productions Inc. of Hamburg.

Besides Bigfoot, other monster trucks sched-uled to appear include: Higher Education, a monster school bus; the Equalizer, a back-fl ipping truck; Black Stallion and Red Solo Truck.

The show will also include Quad Wars racing by special four-wheel quad racers performing elimina-tion heats in front of the grandstand.

“Everybody likes the monster trucks,” said Nell Fellows, who helps run the fair offi ce.

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