Fair board extends cash party invitation
DEMING – How can you give away $12,125 and still manage to provide upgrades to the Southwestern New Mexico State Fairgrounds and put on a county fair? That’s the objective of the SWNMSF Board when they host the 2022 “Fairest of them All” Cash Party on Saturday, July 16, at the fair building.
The party is the chief fundraiser for the fair board. They plan on giving a grand prize of $10,000 at the party and will hand out an additional $1500, $500, and $125 during the evening events.
Tickets are $125 per person and includes a steak dinner, with all the trimmings, access to a cash bar provided by the Lazy Lizard Lounge in Deming, a live and silent auction, and live dancing music to the stylings of the Horizon Band. You must be at least 21 to purchase a ticket.
Each year, the board puts on the Southwestern New Mexico State Fair in October. The fair highlights Luna County’ accomplishments through agriculture, home economics, businesses, and arts and crafts. It is also the showcase for the Junior Livestock Sale among local and area 4-H youth and FFA students.
The fair weekend begins on a Thursday with a royalty pageant and cake auction. The queen, princess, junior princess, and pee wee princess are crowned and will reign throughout the weekend, and the year.
“Each year, we take money from ticket sales and the auctions to help improve the fairgrounds in areas that we know the public will have access to,” said fair board president Marcus Dominguez. In recent years, the board has made improvements to the roofing, electrical, plumbing, cooling, and extensive work at the rodeo arena.
“We have been able to upgrade our main fair buildings by replacing the roll-up cargo doors, adding new doors to the entrance ways, a new coat of paint, improve the roofing and replace the peg boards for our school exhibits,” Dominguez said. “We also improved the pig barn and main livestock barn by adding air conditioning, roof and doors.”
The staged area for the royalty pageant has major improvements backstage. Air conditioning, mirrors, and clothing racks have made the dressing rooms more accommodating for the pageant contestants.
The way the cash giveaways will be distributed will be by drawing. The first ticket drawn will win back the $125 ticket price. The third to the final ticket drawn will pocket $500. The second to the last ticket drawn will take home $1,500. The final ticket drawn will win the $10,000 cash prize.
Doors open at 6 p.m., dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m., and the live dancing music will play until midnight.
Only 200 tickets will be sold for the cash party. They are available from any fair board member. Members include Dominguez, president; Rebecca Hansen, vice-president; Cindy Reed, treasurer; Chelsea McGinnis, secretary; and standing members, Tom Rodriguez, Jeff Jackson, Cynthia Galindo, Joel Nanez, Jorum Robbs, John Bookout, Zack Nunn, Leslie Wilson, and Karen Reed.
For more ticket information, call Marcus Dominguez at 575-543-8477.
Bill Armendariz can be reached at 575-494-5059 or biarmendariz@demingheadlight.com.
INFO BOX STARTS HERE
If you go
Who: Southwestern New Mexico State Fair Board
What: 2022 SWNMSF Cash Party
When: 6 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, July 16, 2022
Where: SWNMS Fairgrounds, 4300 Raymond Reed Blvd. Deming, NM
Perks: Steak dinner, live and silent auction, cash bar, live music by the Horizon Band, and a grand prize $10,000 giveaway
Tickets: $125 each. Must be at least 21
In addition: First ticket drawn wins back $125. Third to last ticket drawn wins $500 and second to last ticket drawn wins $1,500
Contact: Marcus Dominguez at 575-543-8477
INFO BOX ENDS HERE
This article originally appeared on Deming Headlight: Fair board extends cash party invitation
