When Angela and Adam Robb gather with their four children and the stories unique to each family begin to flow, their talk must in the end turn to the jumping goat and the biting pigs and the ruined jeans.

Although slashed denim is but a minor example of the sacrifices the Robb family has made on behalf of the Baker County Fair.

There were nearly two decades of summer vacations.

The litany of troubles that result when young people raise even younger animals.

Mud and assorted other unpleasant messes associated with pigs, goats, sheep and steers.

Except none of it seemed like sacrifices to the Robbs.

“If you want to have a successful community, you have to volunteer,” Angela said. “When I do something my whole family does it. That’s how we’ve raised them. If it wasn’t for volunteers, where would you be?”

And now the Robbs have been chosen as Baker County’s Fair Family of the Year.

They will be honored during the Friends of the Fairgrounds appreciation dinner and pie auction on July 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the fairgrounds, 2600 East St.

The Baker City couple have four children: sons Brylan, 23, and Dysan, 21, and daughters Makea, 19, and Adalyn, 15.

A letter nominating the Robbs for the annual honor, signed by “someone who’s grateful for all they do,” reads, in part: “Together, Angela and Adam — and their whole family — represent what the fair is all about: community, service, and supporting youth. They give their time, energy, and heart to make sure things run well, and they do it all without expecting recognition.”

The anonymous author accurately described the Robbs’ attitude about public accolades.

Angela admits she is uncomfortable accepting honors.

But she’s had a fair amount of practice.

In December 2023 she was inducted into the Oregon 4-H Hall of Fame.

Angela, 46, and Adam, 49, said they have ample motivation to donate their time and effort — and the occasional pair of pants — even with no prospect of receiving an award.

“Neither one of us knows how to say no,” Angela said with a smile.

She glances at her husband.

“I rope him into everything.”

An unconventional path to the fair

Angela and Adam both chuckle when asked about their background in the accoutrements of county fairs — farms and ranches and learning to raise animals.

Neither had any such experience.

Angela, who grew up in Vancouver, Washington, and later moved to Baker City, graduating from Baker High School in 1997, said she never attended the Baker County Fair as a teenager.

Adam grew up in Colorado. His family had sheep, but they were raised to produce wool, not blue ribbons.

The couple met while both were attending Ricks College — now BYU-Idaho — in Rexburg, Idaho, and they settled in Baker City.

Adam has worked as a marine deputy for the Baker County Sheriff’s Office for 21 years.

What really changed the family’s trajectory, though, was when Angela started working for the Oregon State University Extension Office in Baker City.

Although her title was office specialist (she’s now the administrative office manager), Angela rapidly became immersed in the Baker County Fair, which takes place in early August.

“Very quickly I learned about livestock in general,” she said. “I knew absolutely nothing about it.”

She laughs when she recalls being gently reminded that dairy cows are distinctly different from the beef cattle that outnumber people in Baker County.

“I really loved it,” Angela said. “I love learning. Every day is different.”

She also came to appreciate the life lessons that children absorb when they participate in 4-H clubs and raise animals to show during the fair.

When Brylan, the couple’s oldest child, was 9, they “shoved him into 4-H,” as Angela puts it.

“I loved it,” she said. “The volunteers were so nice.”

In the 14 years since, 4-H and the fair have been integral parts of the Robb family’s seasonal schedule, along with school events and sports.

Brylan’s first animal was a pig.

And so began the Robbs’ experiences with swine.

A full family affair

Brylan’s three younger siblings all followed him to 4-H and became acquainted with the peculiarities of porcine personalities.

Like most relationships it has brought both joy and frustration.

“Pigs aren’t easy,” Angela said.

But then the best instructors, and their most lasting lessons, rarely are.

“There was a lot of learning,” Angela said. “4-H teaches a lot of things, life lessons.”

The Robbs’ experience with the fair has been different from most families’ due to Angela’s career.

For her the event is a job as well as a family tradition.

Because she is so busy before and during fair week, Adam takes on a variety of duties.

And challenges.

One year Adalyn raised a goat to show at the Baker County Fair in Halfway.

The goat was both athletic — it could leap over the fence meant to confine it — and stubborn.

“That goat hated me,” Adam said with the deadpan delivery of a comedian.

The goat, having gained its freedom, was not inclined to surrender it.

“We couldn’t catch it,” Adam said.

Lacking a better option, he rapidly honed his skill with a lasso.

“I roped it a couple times,” Adam said.

Angela recalls multiple phone calls from Adam, during the summer of the goat, each involving the phrase “it’s out.”

For a few years, the three elder Robb children all showed animals.

“It became our tradition,” Angela said. “It was our normal. Once they started showing, they all loved it.”

The Robbs hardly limited their involvement to the fair itself, though.

Several years ago Angela and Adam agreed to oversee the JQ’s Livestock 4-H club.

Membership grew from seven kids the first year to 37 the second. And now they work with 45 to 50 each year. Most raise pigs.

Always with the pigs.

It’s a lengthy commitment. Kids buy their pigs in late March or early April, and they’re responsible for the animals for the next four months.

Adam’s swine-related duties include monitoring the show ring during the fair and intervening when pigs, as pigs are wont to do, tussle.

The porcine have no more appreciation for referees than football fans do.

Except football fans, as a rule, don’t bite.

Pigs do.

“They are generally sweet animals,” Angela said.

It’s the scent of other pigs that sets them off.

Adam has emerged from the pig ring with wounds many times.

“He’s lost several pairs of jeans” to swine damage as well, Angela said.

The greatest of the Robbs’ pig stories, though, doesn’t involve Angela or Adam. At least not directly.

About a decade ago they took a rare vacation, as a couple. Before the fair, of course, but while their kids were raising pigs.

Adam’s mom, Mary Kaye, traveled from Colorado to watch her grandchildren while Adam and Angela were away (they haven’t had a vacation alone since, but they’re looking forward to a trip to Mexico later this year).

During the vacation the pigs, seemingly inevitably, got loose.

And then they got stuck.

In mud.

Of course.

The resulting mess has become part of Robb family lore.

And a chapter preserved in ink on Brylan’s leg.

He recently showed his parents a tattoo.

Angela thought she recognized one part of the anatomical artwork.

“Is that a pig’s tail?” she asked her elder son.

Brylan said the tattoo was a tribute to his grandma, who died in 2020.

Rewards outweigh sacrifices

The Robbs’ dedication to the fair, and to the months of preparation, meant they had to forgo the family tradition of summer vacation.

Angela said they usually schedule family gatherings for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

The sacrifices, though, seem unimportant compared with the many rewards from participating in the fair and in 4-H, she said.

“Seeing older kids playing with and giving advice to younger kids, that’s probably what I like the most,” she said. “As long as people are having a good time at fair, we’re doing something right.”

Adam said he relishes occasions when a fairgoer acknowledges the efforts of the volunteers without whom the fair couldn’t happen.

“A smile and a thank you goes a long way,” he said.

Although only Adalyn, the Robbs’ youngest, still competes in the fair, the family’s involvement continues.

Each of the three older children has returned to Baker City to volunteer.

Perhaps inevitably, they gravitate to the pig ring, risking their clothing, and skin, alongside their dad.

Whatever comes of the future, the Robb family’s connection to the Baker County Fair will persist when they’re together, when the tales (and tails) of mud-slathered pigs and escaped goats are brought out, as beloved as favorite Christmas tree ornaments, burnished by the passage of time.

“Probably the most memories we have as a family,” Angela said, “is fair.”

Nomination letter

“I would love to nominate the Robb Family as the 2025 Fair Family.

“Angela Robb has been part of Extension for over 18 years, and in that time, she’s done just about everything there is to do — especially when it comes to the auction and 4-H. She’s been a dedicated club leader, a huge part of making the auction run smoothly year after year, and a mentor to so many kids and families in our community. In 2023, she was indicted into the Oregon 4-H Hall of Fame, which says a lot about her impact — not just here locally, but across the state.

“Adam Robb might not always be front and center, but he’s constantly working behind the scenes. Whether it’s helping with the auction committee, supporting swine projects, or jumping in to handle those random jobs that pop up and need doing, Adam is always there. Half the time I don’t think people even realize how much he does — but we’d notice if he wasn’t around!

“Together, Angela and Adam — and their whole family — represent what the fair is all about: community, service, and supporting youth. They give their time, energy, and heart to make sure things run well, and they do it all without expecting recognition.

“It would be truly fitting to honor them as this year’s Fair Family. They’ve more than earned it.

“Sincerely, someone who’s grateful for all they do.”