A fair for a great volunteer

If the Yuma County Fair has a good-luck charm, it's 86 years old and its name is Bud Lemke.

To begin with, Lemke is one of the event's greatest fans, given the fact that he's never missed a fair - all 56 of them. Then there's the fact that Lemke has been the fair's right-hand man for half a century, volunteering and working just as hard today as when he was a young buck.

All that's why the Yuma County Fair didn't have to look far to find the perfect person for the honor of having this year's fair dedicated in their name.

Not much probably catches Bud Lemke off guard, but he admits that his recent honor certainly did.

"I'll tell you right now I was well surprised," he said, grinning as he recalled being shown this year's fair book bearing the dedication. "It hit me in a way that tears came."

People ask Lemke all the time if he's paid to help out on the fairgrounds and he answers with a straight-up "Nope." Lemke explains that he's out of bed by 4 a.m. and on the grounds watering everything down by 4:30 a.m. because he loves the fair and feels he owes the fair a good turn after 4-H and FFA did so much for his kids over the years.

"My kids went through these programs and the community supported them then. I think I'm the oldest active person in the fair and I'm here because I want to be. When I see something out here I wanna do, I just do it."

Lemke's first job with the Yuma County Fair demonstrates just how much the popular event has grown over the years. He served on the barbecue committee that first year, when they served 350 pounds of beef. He's still on the committee, which served a whopping 3,800 pounds last year.

"Look what we have out here today," he said, marveling at all the activities and programs offered by the fair these days. "A lot of work goes into making this fair happen, a lot more than people realize."

Lemke certainly realizes what it takes to make the fair happen each year. In addition to being an all-around volunteer, he has been on the fair commission and on the fair board, which he served as president. He was also involved with the Junior Livestock Committee for years.

"This places feels like a second home to me."

Yuma has been home to Lemke since 1952, but he was born in Westmoreland, Calif. He likes to tell how he was born in a tent and weighed on an old vegetable scale.

He later attended school in Placentia, Calif. He recalled seeing his first light bulb and his first real washing machine, a Maytag fitted with a kick-start motor.

Lemke served in the Coast Guard for a while, inspecting ships as they arrived from foreign nations.

"I can tell you every part of a ship there is to be known," he said, launching into a detailed account about opium and the ingenious ways people had for smuggling the drug.

Lemke came to Yuma as a homesteader on the Yuma mesa. He was one of 4,700 people who entered a drawing for 27 farms. He was lucky number 10. He and his wife, Justine, made their first home inside an old metal quonset left over from World War II.

"When I came here, this was just a little oasis in the desert," he said, adding that his land was a bit rough and rugged, however. "I got 160 acres of rattlesnakes and weeds!"

Lemke had always dreamed of having his own farm.

"The big thing was that it's an independent life. Anything you did, you worked for. You never knew when you were going to get it, but it was yours," he said, recalling all the years of struggling against weather and economics. "The farmer is the biggest gambler on earth."

But it wasn't just the fair that's benefited from Lemke's helping hands. He helped start Trinity Methodist Church and served on the Yuma Union High School District's board of education.

Lemke was also one of the first leaders behind the Yuma Mesa Jackrabbits 4-H Club. He received his 50-year pin from the club last year.

He retired from farming in 1976 and went to work in the citrus industry as a crop estimator. He worked around these parts and as far away as Indio, Calif., and Phoenix.

But even if Lemke swears that he's retired, don't believe him. He still keeps himself extra busy by holding on to a longtime business. He giggles as he shares that he still works in chicken poop, selling the powerful fertilizer to local citrus growers.

"I can't stand to sit still. I've gotta keep my feet moving. Every morning I get up, go have coffee with some old boys, come home and have a bowl of oats and read the newspaper. Then I find myself something to do. It may not be much, but I keep busy."

Lemke says he's glad to be helping out however he can - especially for the fair.

"Hard work's never killed anybody," he said, chuckling. "I've got a good life. I sure don't have any complaints."

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Darin Fenger can be reached at dfenger@yumasun.com or 539-6860.