Scio brothers Merlin and Hawk are gearing up to operate a weekend filled with entertainment, competition and 12-hour workdays.
It’s a lot for a pair of 6-year-old sheepdogs.
The dogs, with the help of their owner, Ian Caldicott, will host the 85th year of what organizers say is the longest-running sheepdog trial in the country May 19-21. The NW Champion Sheepdog Trial is held in conjunction with the Linn County Lamb and Wool Fair, which is celebrating its 88th year.
Festivities begin Friday all over the town of Scio. The sheepdog trials will take place at Caldicott’s property, Wolston Farm, 39562 Highway 226 off of Franklin Butte Road.
Caldicott said the biggest news this year is that people will be able to park without sinking in the wet ground, that is, so long as the sun keeps the rain at bay throughout the weekend. In the past, people have struggled to find parking during years where April and May showers have been plentiful.
Caldicott will offer four courses on Friday: a nursery class for dogs under 3 years of age, a pro-novice class for dogs who have never competed in a standard Open course, a ranch class for beginning handlers and dogs, and a brace class for one handler and two dogs.
The full Open course will begin Saturday with the “Scio Shed,” in which the dogs will separate out three marked sheep and pen just those three.
The standard Open course, including shed and pen, is on Sunday.
The sheepdog Hawk herds sheep at Wolston Farm on Monday, May 15, 2023, in Scio.Joanna Mann/Corvallis Gazette Times
Ian Caldicott and his sheepdogs, Merlin, left, and Hawk.Joanna Mann/Corvallis Gazette Times
Each day’s competition will start at 7 a.m. and continue until all dogs have run. There are 55 competitors this year. There will be no concessions at the trials, so onlookers are encouraged to pack a picnic.
Caldicott started hosting the sheepdog trials on his property 10 years ago, when the event was turning 75 but nobody had offered to host it. He stepped in to save the day, and has been doing it ever since.
“It’s Scio’s big event,” Caldicott said. “These little towns all have their own things, like the Lebanon Strawberry Festival and the Jefferson Mint Festival.”
As for the rest of the Lamb and Wool Fair, this year’s theme is, fittingly, “Counting on Ewe to Join Us.”
One featured event this year is the Sheepskin Revue: a theatrical event for guests to witness entertainment as it was experienced in Scio from 1890 through 1915.
The cast will perform comedy sketches, ballet, gymnastics, circus themes, a dramatic poem, music and more. Additionally, there will be newspaper reporting from the time that will put fairgoers right back to the turn of the 20th century.
The Sheepskin Revue will be at 7 p.m. Saturday at Scio’s historic ZCBJ Hall. Guests are invited to dress for the period if they so choose.
The weekend will include, among other things, a quilt show, beer garden, pie eating contest, lamb trot, tractor show, talent show, craft event and live music on Friday and Saturday evenings.
A detailed schedule of events is available at www.lambfair.com.
— Joanna Mann,Mid-Valley Media, Joanna.Mann@lee.net.
