Sage, a Guernsey cow raised by Caleigh Griffith (partially pictured), is fed by her brother Jamie Griffith on the first day of the fair. Jamie, 6, is reenacting a scene that has likely played out thousands of times in the 128 years that farm animals have come to the Humboldt County Fair. (Jose Quezada, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)

Vito Pitino brings his children Pablo, 8, and Sofia, 5, through the gates. They are the very first visitors to the 128th Humboldt County Fair, which began Wednesday at the fairgrounds in Ferndale. The family had traveled from Seville, Spain, to visit the oldest county fair in California. (Jose Quezada, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)

Dally Sue Hunt, 12, brushes her Boer goat, “Ace,” to prepare it for the show. The 4-H club member in Hydesville bred her Boer goat from the beginning, a breed founded by Dutch farmers in South Africa in the early 1900s. The first purebred Boer goats were brought to the United States in 1993. (Jose Quezada, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)

The Ferndale Garden Club is presenting a massive exhibit called “The Garden Begins” in the Flower House on the Humboldt County Fair’s center path near the livestock buildings. (Jose Quezada, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)

A colorful display of crochet works hangs in the Open Home Arts exhibition hall. First place winner Jessica McKnight received a blue ribbon for her purple, teal and sea green piece, right. (Jose Quezada, HUMEDIA/For the Times-Standard)