PORT CHARLOTTE — There was a time, back in 1989 when the Charlotte County Fair originated, when there were no young people raising and showing large animals, like hogs and steers.
Laverne Outlaw, who was one of the original five Jaycees who went to Tallahassee to get the fair licensed, said the first two years, 1990-91, he had to rent hogs and steers from a rancher in Okeechobee.
“We had to have animals to meet the requirements of a livestock fair,” Outlaw said. “The program at Charlotte High was just getting started and we didn’t have kids showing large animals.”
He said they rented them so people could see them.
“We brought in about six to eight steers and 12 to 15 hogs.”
At the time, the fair was set up behind the baseball stadium, in tents across State Road 776 from its current location.
Renting the animals worked out for the most part. There was one mishap however when a steer got loose and there were no fences to hold him in.
“That steer just wouldn’t be caught. We had to call in a helicopter to find him and horses to go rope him and bring him in.”