Fair Market Price

A bell rang to signal the start of the junior livestock auction, and at a rapid-fire pace, David O’Shaughnessy, the auctioneer, began taking bids.

People sitting in bleachers clapped as the auction got underway Saturday at the San Fernando Valley Fair at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center. Students stood in line with their chickens, goats and calves, waiting to display their animals for the bidding.

Katie Hall, 14, of Shadow Hills kissed the snout of her 3-month-old black-and-white calf, as other students petted it.

The animal licked Katie’s green hat, tucked in her back pocket.

“Don’t lick my hat. This [calf] likes to lick anything you have,” said Katie, an eighth-grader at John Muir Middle School in Burbank. “I know I’m going to miss it a little bit. That’s why you can’t get too attached, because then you can’t let it loose.”

At that moment, several pigs in a pen began fighting, trying to bite each other. Two boys with wooden “pig boards” quickly dropped the boards between the animals until they calmed down.

“Basically it’s a turf war. [The pigs] get rowdy,” said Kewan Williams, a Canoga Park High School student who was auctioning a goat, turkey and two pigs.

Williams, 18, of Pacoima said the auctioned animals will be separated by species tonight and loaded into trucks, which will carry many of them to slaughter.

Roger Brown of Granada Hills said he enjoyed seeing the pigs, steers and lambs.

“We don’t think of the Valley as a place to raise animals,” said Brown, 64. “I’m a country boy and it’s nice to see something of the country in the city.”

Janice and Chuck Mehr of Lake View Terrace lingered by the rabbits.

“You made a friend,” Janice Mehr told her husband, as a rabbit licked his fingers through its cage.

“It’s a really good family thing to do, and we love it,” said Janice Mehr, who added that she liked the fresh air and even the animal smells.

Besides the livestock entries, the 54th annual fair and rodeo featured animals billed as the world’s largest. Signs advertised a horse 19 hands tall, a 13-foot-long Florida alligator, and “Harley the Giant Hog,” listed at more than a thousand pounds.

Entertainers also roamed the fairgrounds. Wearing straw hats and red-striped jackets, a three-man Dixieland band playing banjo, trombone and tuba kept the music coming.

Stew Undem, the leader of “Dixieland Stew,” said his group had gotten all kinds of song requests from fair visitors.

“We’ve gotten requests to play ‘[Livin’] La Vida Loca,’ ” said Undem, who plays trombone.

“From that to ‘Old McDonald Had a Farm,’ to ‘In the Mood.’ It’s a happy music, lively. It makes people happy.”

Members of the sword combat troupe, “Have Sword, Will Travel,” dressed in medieval costumes, walked around the fair inviting people to their upcoming performance on the grandstand.

The group, has performed around the country at “Xena: Warrior Princess” conventions.

“You have a lot of fun. You have that entertainment family atmosphere,” said Bill Binford, a member of the troupe, who was wearing a black pirate costume.

“We’re still riding the Hercules/Xena wave.”

The fair, organized by the 51st District Agricultural Assn., continues today from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Today at the Fair

The San Fernando Valley Fair concludes today at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center, 11127 Orcas Ave., Lake View Terrace. Admission is $6 general and children 12 and older, $3 for children 6 to 11, and free for children 5 and younger. For information, call (818) 557-1600. Hours today are 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Today’s events

At the grandstand:

Dance groups: 10:30 a.m. and noon.

Sword play entertainment: 11:45 a.m., 1:45, 3:45 and 5:45 p.m.

Choir groups: 1, 2 and 6 p.m.

Broadway music review and comedy: 3 p.m.

Israeli dancers: 4 p.m.

Folkloric dancers: 5 p.m.

Live music: 6 p.m. until close

On the fairgrounds:

Mariachis: noon, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 p.m.

In the tent:

Clown shows at 1, 3, 5 and 7:30 p.m.

In the rodeo arena:

Rodeo and entertainment at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 p.m.

Pig races: noon, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.