Livestock Buyers Do the Bidding as the Fair Makes Itself at Home

Though impeccably groomed and decked out with glitter on its coat, Lily Siebert’s goat, Ice Cream, was a reluctant performer Saturday at the San Fernando Valley Fair.

“Oh, c’mon,” said 7-year-old Lily impatiently, as she prodded and pulled until Ice Cream reached center ring at the fair’s junior livestock auction.

Then the bidding began. Within five minutes, the petite, blond youngster had sold the animal she had fed and nourished for the last several months for a hefty $3.60 a pound--not a bad price for a 75-pound goat.

And if it bothered Lily to part with her goat, it didn’t show.

“I don’t mind; it’s fun,” Lily said, matter-of-factly.

Parting with the animals is “just something they have to learn,” said Lily’s mother, Nancy Siebert of Lancaster, who said her family members are lifelong participants of the Valley Fair.

After three years at Hansen Dam in Lake View Terrace, the 1992 fair is being held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank for the first time. The switch was made by the cash-strapped sponsor, the 51st Agricultural Assn., to save about $100,000, including $30,000 in fees the organization had paid the city each year to use the Hansen Dam site.

Also, staging the fair at the equestrian center allowed organizers to reinstate events such as a rodeo and horse show, which had been discontinued since the move to Lake View Terrace, said Sal Buccieri, president of the fair’s board of directors.

The fair was evicted from its longtime home at Devonshire Downs in 1988 and has been searching for a permanent home since. If Saturday was any indication, it may have found it at the equestrian center, where hundreds of people strolled leisurely through the spacious grounds, undeterred by occasional rain.

“The kids love it,” said first-time Valley Fair visitor Patty Bogel of Burbank, whose 2-year-old twin boys stared wide-eyed at the miniature carnival rides. But to Bogel’s chagrin, one of them started crying the minute he got on one of the rides.

“Well, I know they’ll love the petting zoo,” she said.

Other attractions at the 1992 fair, which runs through today, include a carnival midway, exhibit hall, petting zoo, concerts by various artists--including country entertainer Freddy Fender--a home arts pavilion, pig races, pie-eating contests and a puppet show.

The grand prize winner in the goat division of the livestock auction was luckier than Lily Siebert’s Ice Cream and the more than 100 other animals that were sold at this year’s fair. The champion, Band-Aid, raised by 21-year-old Andrea Jones of Lancaster, was bought by state Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Van Nuys).

“That goat is going to the zoo,” said Sandy Miller, Roberti’s aide.

Most of the others will go to slaughterhouses Monday, fair officials said.

But Jeff Henenfent, 17, of Sun Valley said he hardly had time to become attached to his swine in the five months he had raised the animal, a 240-pounder that sold for $1.25 a pound.

“Pigs are pretty hard to handle,” he said. “I raised two pigs to get money for college. It’s a lot of work. You have to feed it every night and every morning. And you have to make sure it doesn’t eat too much. They can’t weigh over 250 pounds or they’re too fat to market.”

Jeff’s friend, Shawn Eshbach, 16, of Sun Valley, raised this year’s grand-prize swine, a 238-pounder named Rudy. Shawn was not unhappy to see Rudy--who brought a meaty $3.75 a pound--go.

“That’s about $900,” said Shawn, a three-year veteran of the auction. “That’s more than enough to stake me for another year.”

Some youngsters who put their animals on the auction block even displayed a bit of humor.

One exhibitor flapped her arms like wings as viewers bid on her chickens. Another brought one of her champion hens to center ring in a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket.