Junior Fair Barbecue, Pie Auction & Tractor Show set for Saturday

Ramona Junior Fair’s Barbecue, Pie Auction & Tractor Show promises a deep-pit barbecue dinner, desserts that will go to the highest bidders, and tractors ranging from antique to 21st century.

The annual event, the junior fair’s biggest fundraiser of the year, will be at the junior fairgrounds, 431 Aqua Lane, on Saturday, July 11, from 3 to 7 p.m.

Barbecue dinner tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for children.

Specialty Meats of Escondido is donating the beef, pork and turkey for the deep-pit barbecue, and 4-H, FFA and Grange members will prepare the side dishes of potato salad, broccoli salad, kernel corn and bread. The youngsters also prepare the grounds for the event and set the tables for the dinner.

Junior fair board member Jon Donais is making his secret barbecue sauce, said board member Crissy Tobiason, who is in charge of plans for the pie auction and tractor show.

The pie auction featuring cakes, cookies, brownies, bars and, of course, pies will start after the dinner.

Prepare yourself for some delicious desserts, said Tobiason, who declined to share the name of the person who will get a pie in the face, a favorite part of the annual pie auction and one of the top moneymakers of the evening.

Brett Huff, a former Ramona 4-H’er and a livestock auction ringman who recently graduated from college, will be the pie auction auctioneer.

Proceeds from the barbecue and auction pay to stage the annual Ramona Junior Fair and Livestock Auction. The 44th annual event will be at the junior fairgrounds July 25 through Aug. 1.

The tractor show, in its second year, will feature entries from antique to state-of-the-art. Awards will go to the Best Overall, People’s Choice, Most Unique, Best Antique for 1944 and Older Tractor, Best Classic for 1945 and Newer Tractor, and Best Youth.

For more information about the tractor show, auction and dinner, contact Tobiason at 951-809-6486.