Pig wranglin’ brings out a crowd to the Teton County Fair

TETON COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI) - Pig wranglin' is quickly becoming a crowd favorite tradition in Teton County, Idaho. The event started at the fair almost five years ago and has since grown into a must-see event at the fair.

"It's definitely one of our finest events. We have a lot of people that show up to come and watch and a lot of teams that usually show up," fair board member John Smaellie said.

Smaellie also says the event has been a hit with people of all ages.

"We have kids from four years old all the way up to adults that are in their fifties. I mean, it's it brings the community together and gives everybody a chance to be involved in the fair," Samellie said.

With the recent moisture, the mud didn't need a lot of preparation.

"Normally we put in bentonite to try to make things a little muddier, but tonight, obviously we didn't have to. Here is the natural arena floor, and it's wetter than in past years for sure. You know that it rained a little bit [and] we've had plenty of moisture and we're not going to complain about that," Smaellie said.

For one of the competitors, the event proved to be some of the most fun he has had at the fair.

"We had a good strategy with everybody, and we had one going for the headlock, one for the hips, and the other two in the middle to lift," said Tyler Theuson, a member of the winning team.

Theuson and his team were able to get the pig up and out of the mud and butt-first into the barrel in 13 seconds, the fastest time of the night.

"Our overall goal, I think we can speed it up a little for next year," said Theuson laughing.

Theuson grew up with the rodeo and loving it, and felt that pig wrangling was a way for him to continue to fall in love with the sport.

"I grew up rodeo and all that good stuff, and so it's something that I've just always loved...we have a great sponsor, the Homestead Assisted Living in Rexburg, and they encourage us to do all sorts of fun things." Theuson said.

In the pee wee division, Maddie Rae Smaellie and Briar Kunz were part of the winning team for their division. They said it was fun trying to win against a pig.

"The funnest part for me was capturing the pig and using teamwork," Kunz said.

Smaellie described her team's game plan going into their match with the pig.

"To, like, get the pig," she said. But she added the pig was heavy as they tried to lift it into the barrel.

They said winning their division made them feel pretty good.

Upcoming events for the fair are listed here.