Korbin Roehm, 13, of Fruita pets his Maine Anjou steer Chromey after selling the animal in the ring Saturday at the Mesa County Fair’s auction.

Kelsey Kyle of Palisade tearfully tends to her 15-month-old Black Angus steer Earl after auctioning him off in the ring Saturday.

Lorie Wuebold of Fruita reaches for a top as she shops next to the crystal at Heirlooms for Hospice’s grand reopening Saturday.

Children play in the spray from a water cannon on top of a Grand Junction Fire Department engine during the Rocky Mountain PBS Kids Fun Fest on Friday at Canyon View Park.

Todd Helton signs autographs for Austin, 6, and Teegan, 4,  Rager before the game. There was a long line of fans who took advantage of the opportunity.

Grand Junction Police Officer Jeff Grady arrives at the Regal Canyon View 14 Cinemas Friday for the first evening showings of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises.” The Grand Junction Police Department decided to have an officer at the theaters after the early Friday morning shooting rampage in Aurora during a midnight premiere of the movie.

Ashley Stiev, 13, of the mid-valley 4-H club is as statly as her buff orpington cockrel while being judged at the Mesa County Fair. She had the grand champion turkey last year.

Dr. Gerald Smith, new director of the Monfort Human Performance Laboratory.

10 year-old Jenna Moores, 85 lbs., leads her steer weighing in at 1377 lbs. Around the show ring in the market Steer class. this is her second year showing steers.

Arthur Cano works on the irrigation system after he and several other employees of Deep Creek Landscaping replaced a half-dead tree with a fresh swamp white oak in the 500 block of Main Street Thursday.

A young showman gets his big buckle on just before he goes into the ring with his pig.

Kneeling in a xeric garden and holding a rootball of a Carol Mackie daphne, Curtis Smith with the Colorado State University’s Cooperative Extension Service describes how different soil in the rootball may not hold moisture that can move into surrounding dirt and leave the roots too dry when conditions are hot and dry.

Felicia Spaedt helps her daughter Kylie get ready for a showmanship class by braiding her hair.

Terry Riddell, left, and her husband Damon of Glen Allen, Vir., have spent the past week seeing the sights after winning a vacation at the Wine Country Inn on the television game show, “The Price Is Right.” The couple has been here since Friday, and have been busy exploring the Little Bookcliffs Wild Horse Range, Grand Mesa, Colorado National Monument, Arches National Park and the Ouray-Silverton area.

Ray Polencheck of Wiggins has his draft horse team make a pull.

Stevan Stanisic with Stanisic Stained Glass Studio in Serbia removing one of the 12 stained glass windows from the St. Joseph parish hall. The windows will be sent to Virginia for refurbishing.

Ashtyn Walter, 9, of Fruita makes fast work of a piece of watermelon at the watermelon eating contest at the Mesa County Fair. Her younger sister, Morgan won the eight-year-old and below contest. The fair continues through Saturday with lots of family entertainment.

Injured screech owl at Mesa County Fair.

Grand Junction firefighters mop up after extinguishing a fire at 1326 Grand.

Grande River Vineyards’ Cab Franc was the Best in Show at the Mesa County Fair. Naomi Smith, co-owner of Grande River, holds an bottle of the prize-winning wine.

Fireworks over the Midway to closeout the opening night of the 125th Mesa County Fair at the Mesa County Fairgrounds.

Delaney Stevens, 3, is decked out for the fair.

Part of the price of admission to the Mesa County Fair is a ride in a kayake presented by Avid4adventures, which many tried for the first time. Other free events are, entertaining acts in the two gazebos, a watermellon eating contest at 2 p.m., demonstrations from local artisans, businesses, and craftsmen in the grandstands lobby, and livestock competitions.

Samuel Thorning puts on a big smile for the judge in the Pee Wee Market Showmanship competition at the 125th Mesa County Fair.

An ambulance with the Grand Junction Fire Department takes a woman to the hospital Monday afternoon after an assault at Barnes Electric on Riverside Parkway in Grand Junction. Deputies from the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department were also at the scene.

Late August is the expected opening date for the Grand Junction Public Safety building between Pitkin and Ute avenues at Fifth Street. The Police Department has begun moving furniture and other items into place.

Anderson Allison, 5, front left and Reese Paronto,8 play in the Downtown Grand Junction fountain on 5th and Maine Streets Monday.

Bill Ogden a volunteer for Hospice Heirlooms Thrift Shop, 635 Main Street in downtown Grand Junction spray paints a mannequin.

Nine-year-old Chloe Hammond from Collbran talks with judge Cathy Sonntag during the judging of the Cake Decorating competition at the 125th year of the Mesa County Fair at the Mesa County Fairgrounds

A sudden downpour catches a group of young people unprepared as they hightail it for shelter through the driving rain along the 600 block of Main Street Sunday.

A blue Jeep kicks up a a huge spray of water as the driver hits a river of rainwater flowing through the intersection of Fourth Street and Ute Avenue.

Research associate Fred Judson of the CSU agricultural center in Fruita looks for damage to field corn from spider mites which turn the leaves brown.

Mary Knight, left, Hayley Keller, center, and Matthew Imbriaco, thumb through a book of photographs from their 2011 performance at Moss Performing Arts Center Sunday.

Chuck Haigler of Grand Junction chops a patch of weeds with a hoe as he tidies up the lawn at First Christian Church, 1326 N. First St. Haigler is a member and chairman of the property committee at the church.

In the spirit of this summer’s Olympic games, the sidewalk at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church has been decorated with the Olympic rings and the words, “Team Jesus.”

Vacation Bible School instructor Karin Poole, in visor, helps the children in the preschool class with the concept of sharing their faith by using popcicle sticks decorated with hearts that say “Faith,” “Hope,” or “Love” at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Children attending Vacation Bible School at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church clap their hands as they sing a song in the sanctuary before separating into classes.