REDMOND — Fresh blueberry and wildberry pies sat on wooden tables ready to be devoured Saturday during the pie-eating contest at the Deschutes County Fair, one of many crowd-pleasing activities at the fair.

Competitors were divided into three age groups — 8 and younger, 9 to 14 and 15 and older — to eat their way to cash prizes and free carnival ride tickets.

Lily Reynolds, 16, of Bend, was excited to enter her first pie-eating contest.

She saw the event on the fair schedule and received encouragement from her friend, Leah Crompton, 17, of Bend. Crompton had her own success at the fair Thursday, when she won the talent show by singing Bob Dylan’s “Blowin in the Wind,” while playing a mandolin and harmonica.

With Crompton’s support, Reynolds pulled back her hair and put on a black plastic bag to protect her clothes from the pie filling.

“I eat fast, so hopefully, I can do this,” Reynolds said.

Then, Reynolds put her face in the pie, and didn’t come up for air until the announcer told her she was the third-place finisher, which earned her a $10 prize. Blueberry pie filling covered her face and got on her hair and necklace. But it was worth it, she said.

“It was actually good pie. It was my favorite kind,” she said. “I was going to keep going even if I wasn’t third place.”

The five-day fair, which ends Sunday, features a variety of attractions. On Saturday, families strolled through the fairgrounds and stopped to watch a Western-themed comedy show, a pirate show with parrots and a ventriloquist.

A favorite event each year is the “mutton busting” sheep rides. Young children suit up with a helmet and protective vest and ride sheep, which get released from a miniature bucking chute.

Most children ride the sheep with two handlers running alongside them. Others who have done it before choose to ride solo.

One of the solo riders Saturday was 6-year-old Elliott Miller, of Redmond. Last year, Miller needed the handlers to keep him from falling. But this year, he held on without any help.

The chute opened, and Elliott stayed on the animal the entire way down the sawdust-covered track.

“That was an amazing ride,” Elliott’s grandmother, Lorinda Fosburg, told the boy.

Saturday was a busy day for the 4-H and Future Farmers of America members, who were preparing their cows, pigs, sheep and other livestock for auctions.

Trinity Holcomb, 15, of Terrebonne, has raised pigs through 4-H for the past six years.

She spent Saturday morning tending to her 257-pound pig, Feznic.

Holcomb raised Feznic for the past six months to get him ready for auction.

“It’s a lot of work,” Holcomb said. “You have to work with them every day, and make sure they are walking for you for the showmanship.”

Holcomb said her 13-year-old sister, Tahera Holcomb, was the big winner in the family this week leading up to auction day. Her younger sister’s 269-pound pig, Moose, was a champion in the born and bred market hog category.

Presenting the pigs at the auction was the result of months of hard work for the Holcomb sisters. It can be emotional to say goodbye to the pigs, but the sisters said they understand the reality of the auction.

“We raise these animals for this purpose,” Tahera Holcomb said.

Bend couple Dale and Rebekah Riggs said seeing the livestock during the fair is always a treat for their two daughters, 3-year-old Clara and 10-month-old Elsie.

Rebekah Riggs, who teaches psychology at Central Oregon Community College, took her girls to the fair Friday to see all the animals. But they returned Saturday for the carnival rides.

Clara, who turns 4 in a couple months, made a deal with her parents.

“I’m almost four so I get to ride four rides,” she said.

Between the livestock, carnival rides and other family-friendly entertainment, Rebekah Riggs said, the fair has become a family tradition.

“We come every year,” she said. “We love the fair.”

— Reporter: 541-617-7820, kspurr@bendbulletin.com