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Tillamook county fair pig ford
The Tillamook County Fair is an annual event that takes place August in the city of Tillamook in Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. The county fair was established in 1891. The fairgrounds have the largest facility in the county for conventions, meetings, receptions, and other gatherings.
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Management
The Tillamook County Fairgrounds is overseen by the Fair Board, which consists of five lay citizens appointed by the Tillamook County Commissioners. The board hires a manager who is the head of operations.
History
The land for the current fairgrounds was donated in 1921, when a county-wide levy of $1 million was passed for acquisition and building of the site.
Pig-N-Ford Races
The Pig-N-Ford Races are an auto racing event staged at the fair.
The races are run every August during, and as a feature of, the Tillamook County Fair. Drivers use stripped Model T Fords with stock mechanicals. Five cars are lined up with the engines off at the start line of the Averill Arena horse racing track. Drivers stand next to the grandstands. When the starter pistol fires, the drivers run to the opposite side of the front straight, grab a live 20-pound pig from a bin, then must hand-crank their car and drive it one lap. They then stop, kill the engine, get a different pig, and race another lap. The first driver to complete three laps in this manner without losing their pig is the winner.
The race was first run in 1925. The official story is that two local farmers were chasing a runaway pig in their Model Ts and were having so much fun, they decided it should be a race at the next county fair. The Pig-N-Ford Races have been run every year since 1925. Drivers belong to the Tillamook County Model T Pig-N-Ford Association, and membership is often a lifelong affair. Cars and memberships are often passed down through families or sold to close friends. Some of the cars that first ran in 1925 are still on the track today.