Breeding character: Swine auction at Kern County Fair culminates months of dedication, hard work

Sep. 29—Pigs stole the show Friday afternoon, just as they do every year about this time inside the Bob Stotler Swine Pavilion at the Kern County Fair.

Prodded by their young handlers, stout, four-legged stars strutted around in circles while an auctioneer carrying on in a singsong cadence helped set the price per pound for each animal.

But for all the applause they won, swine weren't really the focus Friday — nor, in a sense, were the young people who had spent many months raising the livestock to become prize-winners. It was more the character-building tradition of raising animals that people came to celebrate.

"This is what we all work for," said David Garrett, an onlooker Friday who showed livestock when he was a teenager, as did his wife. This year was his son Ethan's turn.

"He loves it," David Garrett said. "These are lifetime memories and these are lifetime friends."

Livestock auctions are arguably the heart of the entire fair. They represent a generations-old tradition many credit with instilling responsibility and a hard work ethic in the young people who every year take part for fun, profit and something a little more intangible.

"It's like taking care of a kid all year long," said Ethan Garrett, who at age 18 delivers and raises his own pigs, feeds them twice daily and gives them medicine and nutritional supplements.

The responsibility he takes on means he can't just take a week off and go to the beach. But if his animal does well at auction, he can sock away money for his upcoming enrollment at Bakersfield College.

Even taking care of livestock isn't all there is to the activity. Ethan works to earn sponsorships from local businesses, friends and family members to help him pay for feed, which costs $50 per bag and only lasts about two weeks.

He doesn't complain, though.