When Pigs Fly in Ventura

Whether it was over the racing pigs or people eating like pigs, visitors to Friday’s Ventura County Fair went hog wild.

Thousands of people stopped by Porker Flats to cheer an annual crowd favorite, the All-Alaskan Racing Pigs. These eight pigs race four times a day to screams and cheers from the several hundred spectators packed in the grandstands.

Friday was Youth Day at the fair, when anyone 12 and younger got in free. As a result, kids from church groups, day-care centers and the YMCA flooded the midway and filled the stands to watch the pigs run.

Four porkers at a time sprinted around an oval track covered in wood chips, sometimes leaping hurdles.

“This was our first year seeing it,” said Erin Smith of Ventura, who came with her daughter Lexi’s Brownie troop. “I did not expect them to jump that hurdle.”

Some of the pigs took a shortcut across the track’s infield and went right for the animal cracker rewards at the finish line. The contestants are 20 months old--old enough to run but not too fat to compete, said handler Holly Standiford, who runs the show with her fiance, Marc Stamper.

“A big pig doesn’t want to do this,” Standiford said.

The couple have raced the pigs since May, when they answered a newspaper ad in their hometown of Eugene, Ore.

“ ‘Adventurous couple wanted’ --that’s all the ad said,” Stamper said. When they found out what the job was, they laughed, saw some videotapes and met the racers.

“We loved the pigs, so we decided to go for it,” Standiford said.

The couple race pigs at eight fairs each summer. They say each racer has a distinct personality. Sow Capone is like a teenage showoff; Yukon is like a puppy, and then there is Sourdough Jack. “He’ll never win, but he’s the sweetest,” Standiford said.

At 6 months old, the Yorkshire and Duroc pigs retire from racing and are adopted as pets.

Ralphs supermarkets gave members of the audience coupons for a pound of bacon--something the racers might not appreciate. “They don’t need to know that,” Standiford said.

On the other side of the fairgrounds, humans made pigs of themselves in the annual pie-eating contest. Entrants covered their clothes in garbage bags, held their hands behind their backs and dove face-first into the pies.

For the fourth consecutive year, Michael Montiel walked away with the adult-category trophy as he downed two chocolate cream pies in 60 seconds. Two years ago, Montiel and his family moved from Ventura to Santa Ana, but he comes to the fair each year to defend his title.

“The first year it was just a dare from the kids,” Montiel said.

“Everybody has their knack, and this is mine. I would like to make this a little legacy.”

Montiel, who drives a cement truck, said he felt stuffed after the contest and planned to take it easy the rest of the day.

“This is something you don’t train for,” he said. “You either have it or you don’t.”

But Montiel has a few techniques that help him prepare. The night before competition, “don’t eat any meals after midnight,” Montiel said. Once you start, “it’s just like a shake. You just try to suck it down as much as you can.”

In the youth competition, 12-year-old Deoshea Deal of Ojai took an aggressive approach and emerged victorious with a mask of whipped cream. “It fell out of the plate and it was hard to breathe,” he said.

Fair organizers expect larger crowds this weekend. At 7:30 p.m. today the Village People perform; Los Tucanes de Tijuana perform at 4 p.m. Sunday.

The nightly fireworks show starts each evening at 9:30.

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Today at the Fair

Here’s a look at some of what’s happening at the Ventura County Fair today.

* The schedule is subject to change. For information, log on to https://www.vcfair.org or call 648-3376.

* Seaside Park opens 11 a.m.

* The parade begins at 10 a.m. on Main Street in Ventura from Catalina to California streets.

* Parking at the fairgrounds is $5 per day. Free shuttle service is available with free parking at the Ventura County Government Center, Pacific View Mall, Oxnard Performing Arts Center, next to the Ventura High School stadium, and Harbor Boulevard and Schooner Drive. Shuttle service is also available with a $5-per-day parking fee at San Buenaventura State Beach.

All day: Carriage Draft & Friesian Horse Show, Morgan Arena

11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m.: One Voice, Pepsi Stage

Noon: Murmaids, Pepsi Stage

Noon, 2, 4:30, 6:30 p.m.: All Alaskan Racing Pigs, Porker Flats

1 p.m.: Academic Rodeo Quizzes, Youth Expo

3:30, 6 p.m.: Shenanigans’ Youth Theater, Pepsi Stage

5 p.m.: Mitch Kashmar Blues Band, Seaside Blues Club

5 p.m.: Jewels of the Nile, Pepsi Stage

7 p.m.: Santa Clara Valley Square Dance, Pepsi Stage

7:30 p.m.: Village People, Grandstand Arena

8 p.m.: John Marx & the Blues Patrol, Seaside Blues Club

8:30 p.m.: Red Hot Kickin’ Country Dancers, Pepsi Stage

9:30 p.m.: Fireworks

10 p.m.: Exhibit buildings close

11 p.m.: Commercial Building closes