Fairgrounds offer safe haven for livestock, peace of mind to fire evacuees

After an intense weekend serving evacuees from wildfires in Boulder and Larimer counties, the Boulder County Fairgrounds were calmer on Monday morning. Human and livestock stress levels were lower and while some animals were still sheltered,  there were plenty of empty pens and stalls. 

Evacuees who continued to shelter livestock as of Monday expressed gratitude for the help they received. 

Dale Wilson was at the fairgrounds with his daughter, Sarah. They had left his home on Colo. 7 on Saturday and were sheltering a group of rabbits, sheep, goats and chickens. 

“The fairgrounds have been fantastic,” Sarah Wilson said. “They provided buckets, they provided hay, they provided us feed. We needed it. We were so busy, it was like a 12 hour day. It may have been longer, I don’t even remember anymore.”

Dale Wilson said, “The CalWood fire was almost directly south of us. We were given a mandatory evacuation on Saturday. We moved animals we could on Saturday and went back yesterday.” 

He described how the effort required navigating road closures and requesting an escort to his property. The escort helped him and his family load and get out, but the return trip took longer than expected. While they were away, the staff at the fairgrounds were looking out for their livestock, with one calling to ask if the chickens could be moved and fed. 

The Wilsons also appreciated help from the Longmont Humane Society, located next door to the fairgrounds. 

“The Humane Society was so great,” Dale Wilson said. ”They’ve taken in our dogs and cats, and they’re not small dogs. We’ve got two Great Pyrenees.”   

Allyn and Eric Harker and their teenage daughter, Jane, live off Apple Valley Road, which as of Monday morning was still under an evacuation warning. The Harkers brought eight goats, two sheep, a turkey, a pig, chickens and two dogs to the fairgrounds on Saturday.

Like the Wilsons, they were grateful for the organization by fairgrounds staff and the kindness of strangers. 

“All volunteers. Really nice people. I drove up and one guy is, like, handing out beer — just knowing they’d be needed,” Eric Harker said.

Jane Harker said, “There were some girls my age just handing out some food for people. Everyone was getting some water, hay. Everyone was really accommodating.” 

As of Monday, the Harkers were trying to determine when it would be safe to return home. 

 “We’re keeping our chickens in the back of our truck,” Allyn Harker said. “We had them loaded this morning and were leaving the hotel to go home and ran into a woman who said that the fire was surging to Lyons fast.

“An evacuation warning can turn into an evacuation order really fast, so we’re keeping the animals here,” she said. “It took us eight hours just to round everyone up in the first place. We just can’t take them home and then bring them back again.” 

Amy Meilen of Front Range Hippotherapy, an organization that provides therapy horses, also remained after the weekend. 

“For us, this is day three,” she said from her spot in the horse barn. “We’re settled a lot more than when the whole barn was full of evacuation craziness.” 

The nonprofit is located on North Foothills Highway, which remained closed on Monday morning. Like the others who haven’t gotten back home yet,  Meilen appeared tired but shared her gratitude. 

“The fairgrounds are amazing,” she said. “They’ve made everything super easy. They’ve answered all our questions, they’ve been so readily available. … We’re so lucky we have this space. The whole horse community is lucky to have this space.”