MOSES LAKE — It was quiet in the swine barn at the Grant County Fairgrounds on Monday morning; the pigs were not due to arrive for a few hours. They were running tests on the ice cream machines in the Block 40 booth and volunteers were hanging artwork for display. The Grant County Fair opens today. 

Yasmine Mueller was testing the repaired equipment at the Block 40 booth, a longtime staple of the fair. It’s going to be a busy week, but Mueller said she’s ready for it.  

“I like it here,” she said of the Block 40 booth, which is a Grant County Fair legend for its ice cream. 

Money raised through the booth benefits the Block 40 4-H club, of which Yasmine was a member back in the day. Working the booth is a way to pass along the support she got from others, she said. 

In the deserted swine barn, Cooper and Henry DeBeaumont were hanging educational posters at the pen that will house their pigs all week.  

The action at the swine barn didn’t ramp up until the afternoon, when it officially opened. Competition in market classes is today, followed by fitting and showing competition Wednesday and the stock sale Friday. Cooper DeBeaumont, 13, said the judges are looking for a pig that presents well and looks like the owner has taken time with it.  

“You need to start walking them a while back, so it they know the lesson,” he said.  

Throughout the fairgrounds, people were setting up equipment, hanging displays and getting ready in general. The setup crew at the arts and crafts booth was rethinking the art installations, the result of running low on just the right kind of hooks. 

There were hooks to be had, but a member of the crew said long experience showed them it had to be just the right hook.  

Isabel Martinez, owner of Moses Lake Ice and Snow, was sweeping away a year’s dust at the door of her booth. 

She also sells ice cream, along with some breakfast options. The fair is a good way to get involved with the community, she said, and is one of the ways she and her husband are expanding their business.  

“We’re kind of entrepreneurs, I guess,” she said.  

Dennis Foster and Ron Shade were hanging signs at the Moses Lake Lions booth; some of the hooks they needed were missing, but they were making do.

The Moses Lake Lions have been selling elephant ears — no, as a sign on the booth points out, those are lion ears. Anyway, they’ve been on sale at the booth for decades. Shade had one piece of advice for fairgoers. 

“Tell them to come by the Lions booth,” he said. 

    Sam Harris installs the fences around the Spaceburger booth, run by Moses Lake Lioness, Monday. She was there to help her mom with setup, she said. The Spaceburgers are a longtime tradition at the Grant County Fair, which opens Tuesday.
  

    Carter Harguinedguy hangs entries in the arts and crafts barn. He was there helping his grandmother, he said.