KENNEWICK, Wash. – It’s that time of year, the best week of summer. If you want something to help get you over the hump of the work week, you might want to head down to the fair.
People have been coming to the Benton Franklin Fair and Rodeo for a while now. They’ve seen animals like pigs, cows, horses and chickens. What you might not have seen is camels.
Kyle McGranahan is the owner of the Pacific Northwest Camel Company.
McGranahan says one of his friends called him up 18 years ago and said I know you know how to train horses, but do you think you can train a camel for me?
Naturally, he was confused just like anyone who sees a camel at the fair.
“I get a lot of different people that aren’t used to it,” said McGranahan. “Camels are very adaptable to this climate.”
McGranahan says training a camel is easier than training a horse believe it or not.
He tells me he has six camels and three of those six are camels he takes to the fair. He says he is in the market for another one.
The Pacific Northwest Camel Company is located near the Agriculture area and the rides are $15 a person and for $10 more you can have a picture of you riding the camel.
You can’t have a fair and not talk about the fair food.
The sights and sounds that come with the fair, well there are the smells of different types of food.
This year there’s a new chicken place in the mix.
Managing Partner of Joe’s Chicken Ranch Leanne Tanner says the company is only a year old and is from Phoenix, Arizona.
According to Tanner, this is their first time at the Benton Franklin Fair and Rodeo.
Tanner says they go around to different fairs and notice one thing.
“We saw a need for chicken at some of the events and fairs,” said Tanner. “Nobody was doing fresh chicken and real battered chicken. So we decided we were going to take on the task and here we are.”
Tanner says they start with a handful of events in the winter in Phoenix and then head up the west coast.
Their next stop will be in Puyallup and that fair.
If you want to try some of their food they are located up by the entrance to the fairgrounds.
