Linda Long’s involvement with the Routt County Fair stretches 53 years, and the legacy she leaves behind after announcing her retirement this week will forever be stitched into the fiber of the fair.

Long, who is secretary of the fair advisory board, announced that she will retire Dec. 31 after 34 years in that position.

She also boasts 53 years as crop superintendent and 40 years as exhibit hall building superintendent.

---

---

“She spread her wings all over the place, and I think that she really made a lasting impact,” said Liz Wood, fairground operations and ground manager. “Every single person that I talked to in the home arts knows who she is, and they know that she’s an amazing woman who is always reliable and will always be helpful to the fair.”

Wood, who took her position last spring, said she could call anytime and Long would pick up the phone and offer knowledge and guidance.

---

---

“She has every minute recorded, from every meeting,” Wood said, “She’s helped me with the historical knowledge, and I just think that everything she’s done has always been with the intention of the fair … and she is a part of all the successes it has enjoyed.”

Long’s historical knowledge reaches beyond the fair. Long’s great grandparents moved to South Routt in 1889, and she is part of a ranching tradition that includes seven generations.

“I grew up by Finger Rock on a ranch up above there and when I got married, I moved to Oak Creek 17 miles away — I’ve really traveled the world,” Long said with a chuckle.

Today she lives on a ranch about four miles out of Oak Creek and about 20 miles from where she grew up. She said she did not grow up with 4-H but got involved in those programs when she was young and took a hands-on approach when she was dealing with her own health problems.

“I had a severe illness when I was 18, and I wanted my sons to be able to remember me for something besides being sick all the time,” Long said. “I had a lot of cancer that I battled for several years … so that was the main reason that I got involved in the fair because it gave me a purpose to keep fighting, to keep going and it helped me more than it helped them.”

In 1971, Long started working as crop superintendent and worked as a 4-H leader working alongside community members like Sam Haslem and Shirley Portow. In 1984, she added the role of Exhibit Hall Building Superintendent where she led the effort to make improvement to the building and exhibits.

During that time, she said Routt County became the envy of many Colorado Fairs boasting more than 1900 entries at one time. Long credits the many great volunteers for building that reputation the fair built during that 40-year run, which will also come to an end when she retires Dec. 31.

“It brings and holds our community together,” Long said of the Routt County Fair. “It’s just important to know where our food comes from. Our families that have struggled to keep Routt County what it is today have always come to the fair to learn new ideas and to share what they know.”

For Long, the fair is also a chance to showcase the communities sewing, leatherwork and other hard-crafted projects that are on display in the exhibit hall during the fair.

“Routt County is really special,” Long said. “We have an awful lot of talented people here and I’ve been able to help them show all their talents and all the wares. It just kind of gets into your system where you really look forward to next year, and for me it always brings the best out of everybody.”

Long’s legacy includes being named fair person of year in 2003 as well as being a longtime volunteer at South Routt Elementary School in Yampa and South Rout School Board. Her dedication to volunteering has been passed down through her family where her son, Dave Long, has also held several positions with the Routt County Fair where he is currently president of the fair advisory board.

“It always been a family affair, whether it’s my family or any of the other families that are involved with 4-H, FFA or the fair,” Dave Long said. “It takes a family — it’s not just one person, it’s not just the kids doing it and takes the entire family to pull it off.”

For Dave Long and his late brother Donald, the 4-H and the Routt County Fair were a part of growing up. Today their mother is proud to watch her grandchildren, and soon her great-grandchildren, take part in the fairs in both Routt and Eagle counties.

Dave Long feels that one of his mother’s biggest accomplishment, along with the many volunteers who worked alongside her, was growing the home arts programs at the Routt County Fair to one of the best, and most active programs in the state.

“It is just something that we do,” Dave Long said of his family’s volunteer efforts and those at the Routt County Fair. “Her focused was always on the home arts part of the fair during that entire time, and I think if you would ask anybody across the state, and even if you went to the Colorado State Fair, for years the Routt County Fair has had a much larger participation in the home arts part of the fair than what you see across the rest of the state.”

There is little question that when Long’s resignation and retirement become official on Tuesday there will be some big shoes to fill.

“I just want to congratulate her for 53 years,” Dave Long said. “She’s had a good run and it’ll be hard to replace her because those kinds of people that want to go above and beyond to make things happen for our community are few and far between.”

Long said she will miss seeing all the people she has come to know over the years, she will miss the hugs and the words of thanks that came from a job will be done. But she was also quick to point out that her retirement doesn’t mean she will not make the trip to Hayden next August to take in the fair and her grandchildren’s accomplishments.

“I want to be remembered for the dedication and passion I served with, more than the years of service,” Long, who will be 80 in June, wrote in a letter to the board when she announced she was retiring. “I am leaving a written record of all the duties I have performed putting on the fair through the years, in all of these positions and a brief history of the fair, thanks to all for the honor, the support and the Memories.”