Whidbey Island Fair opens July 25

For many fairgoers, the ability to get up close and personal with barnyard animals is the highlight of the experience.

For the second year, the Whidbey Island Fair will feature a petting zoo with a wider assortment of animals for folks to meet and touch.

Yet the popular event, which returns Thursday, July 25 and runs through Sunday, July 28 in Langley, will have all the usual sights, sounds and smells of an old-fashioned country fair — live music, vegetables, farm animals, carnival rides, handmade crafts, log rolling contests and plenty of food.

This year the fair will host its first rodeo after a long absence in its 99-year history.

Ballydidean Farm Sanctuary and Critters and Co. Pet Center and Rescue are partnering to host a petting zoo that runs all four days.

The Critters and Co. crew plan to bring rescued reptiles, including snakes, bearded dragons, geckos, a tegu, turtles and tortoises.

“Just the things people normally wouldn’t see,” owner Debbie Wilkie said.

Visitors can expect to find Raja, the 12-year-old famously free-roaming tortoise of the pet store.

“He’s about 60 pounds now,” Wilkie said. “Just recently he started really growing.”

Raja will be in a big enough enclosure that he can’t escape. He can be fed lettuce and strawberries.

Ballydidean owners Sarah and Ansel Santosa, on the other hand, will bring a number of farm animals.

Rescue goats Yodelai and Blueberry, who just participated in the Maxwelton Fourth of July Parade, are excited to be part of the petting zoo.

These aren’t your typical fair goats, however. Yodelai’s age is unknown and she is missing front teeth. She was found at the side of an Oregon highway with toenails so long they were wrapped under her.

Blueberry, who is 16, has no teeth and a skin disorder.

“This is a very different goat than the prize-winning purebred goat in the 4-H section, but she is none the less thrilled to meet people and have treats and socialize,” Sarah Santosa said.

It’s part of Ballydidean’s mission to show that all animals are deserving of love and care.

“I think it is great to have Critters there with us as another rescue group so when people come from looking at the perfect animals and they come over to our loveable messes, there’s another group that understands,” Sarah said.

Instagram-famous Petunia the pig will be there at least one day, along with other pig Roxy and Móle the duck, who is blind in both eyes.

“She’s a double-blind study,” Sarah said.

Móle will swim in a special lifted bathtub, where she can splash and receive pets.

Móle has met Raja before and even posed for a photo while standing on top of his shell. The two rescue organizations often work together, sharing resources and referrals.

“We might have to recreate that moment at the fair,” Sarah said of the photo.

Donations are accepted, and Ballydidean plans to showcase end-of-the-year projects that teen volunteers completed as part of an internship program known as LEAP.

The reptiles will stick around from the opening of the fair to about 6 p.m. each day, while the farm animals will be there until 4 p.m. Find the petting zoo at the Fiddle Faddle Farm.

Though fairgoers are sure to notice some other familiar faces — including Wren the Juggler, the Clucky Show and bubble man Matt Henry — there’s plenty of novelty this year as well. The fair has a new manager, Nancy Thelen, a new rodeo at 6 p.m. on July 26 and a new food vendor that specializes in deep-fried Twinkies, Snickers, Oreos, Pop Tarts, fruit and butter.

Daily fair admission is $12 for adults, $6 for youth, military and seniors; free for children under 5. Season passes are $36 for adults and $18 for youth, military and seniors.

For more information and to view the full schedule, visit whidbeyislandfair.com.