RIDGEFIELD — Trump stands in front of the industrial fan, the golden brown hair around his ears blowing in the manufactured breeze. Others crowd around Trump, trying to cool off near the fan. Melania lies on the ground nearby, not far from Trump but away from the fray.
“Ivanka’s at home,” Richard Cruanas explained. “I didn’t bring her.”
“And Barron’s too young to be at a show,” he added.
Cruanas created his own first family before President Donald Trump even won the election — naming alpacas born on his farm last summer after members of the Trump family. But the Trumps aren’t the first presidential family Cruanas has named his alpacas after; he’s given the animals presidents’ names dating back to Richard Nixon.
But Cruanas, who owns La Finca Farms in La Center, isn’t trying to make a political statement with the names.
“I’ve been in the business 22 years,” Cruanas said. “I’m literally running out of names.”
“You can only have so many Fluffies,” he added.
Trump and Melania were among the hundreds of alpacas on display and facing the judges Saturday at the 19th annual Alpacapalooza at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds. The alpacas were grouped by color and judged on their fleece’s fineness, brightness, length and density, among other characteristics.
While the alpacas at the show were still growing out their fleece — shearing takes place before the warm summer months — vendors had plenty of handmade alpaca fleece items for sale. Colorful ponchos, bright children’s sweaters and super soft socks, gloves and hats were among the most popular.
When they weren’t facing the judges, the alpacas chomped on hay and stood in front of fans in their pens, trying to find relief from their natural sweaters.
Two-year-old Luna Ung walked from pen to pen, squealing with delight each time she spotted an alpaca.
“I just knew she’d love it,” said Luna’s mother, Tiffany Bates of Vancouver. “She’s been looking at every single one of them.”
Little Luna wasn’t the only one in the family who enjoyed the animals. Her older brother, 12-year-old Jordan Ung, decided he wanted to be an alpaca farmer after spending the early afternoon with the animals, Bates said.
This was the first time the family had visited Alpacapalooza and one of the few times the kids have been around farm animals, Bates said.
“I just want to get my kids closer to animals,” she said. “It’s something new to us.”
Attendees could cuddle up next to an alpaca named Warrior for selfies for $1. The 1-year-old alpaca from Stoneberg Alpacas in Hillsboro, Ore., posed with about 35 people in the first couple hours of the event.
Alyssa Kowalski, 25, of Vancouver couldn’t pass up the chance for a selfie with Warrior.
“He even gave me a kiss,” she said.
Alpacapalooza continues Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds, 17402 N.E. Delfel Road, Ridgefield.
