Giant cabbages aside, the Ninilchik fair has earned the title of "The Biggest Little Fair in Alaska." This year's theme is "Barn to be Wild," is pretty straightforward in its meaning, according to Fair Manager Laura McGinnis.

There will be livestock, music, food, 26 divisions of crafts, a rodeo and a midway, plus the fair is bringing in a band.

"We had been batting around the idea of bringing in a headliner for a while," McGinnis said.

It will be a personal gamble for her, as well as a big step for the fair. McGinnis gave up a portion of her salary in order to make it possible to bring up BeauSoleil, but with 150 tickets sold it will all come out in the wash.

The Kenai Peninsula State Fair offers entertainment for just about everyone with events like the popular racing pigs to handcrafted art in the display buildings. The fair starts in Ninil-chik on Friday and runs through Sunday.

BeauSoleil is a Grammy award-winning cajun music group that has been playing together since 1975. According to their Web site, "Michael Doucet avec BeauSoleil take the rich Cajun traditions of Louisiana and artfully blend elements of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, country, blues and more into a satisfying musical recipe. From The Grand Ole Opry to Newport Folk, from concert hall to dance floor, the music of BeauSoleil continues to captivate audiences the world over."

For those who are unable to take part in the BeauSoleil concert, there are other opportunities for entertainment, including performances by J-Wail, Three Legged Mule, Grandma's Hope Notes and the Spur Highway Spankers. There will be a presentation from the Imaginarium, the Society for Creative Anachronism, Circus Fun and dance presentations by an Alaska Native group called the Cupiit Yurartet Dancers and clogging from the Chugach Mountain Range Cloggers. There will be cowboy poetry starting at 4 p.m. Saturday that is open to public participation.

At 8 p.m. Saturday, there will be something new for those who have a bit of entertainer and competitor in their souls.

"I have a bunch of teenagers working for me this summer, and they've just been begging me for it. So we're going to give it a try," McGinnis said of the new Guitar Hero Competition.

The cost is $5 to enter, and there will be cash prizes for first through third places.

There will be the traditional Junior Market Livestock Auction an noon Saturday.

"We have JML'ers from all over the peninsula with livestock in the auction," McGinnis said. "A lot of them take the money they make and invest it in their college fund."

A young woman who has grown up through the fair, participating in 4-H competitions, auctions and working for the fair, recently earned her college degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and is back to run the Kenai Peninsula Racing Pigs.

Financial considerations are important for the fair, so the importance of drawing on local talent has paid off big time in the case of Katie Schooenburg. Schooenburg was a 4-H student who started training the pigs, so the fair doesn't need to bring in animals from the Lower 48. She will be taking the pigs to Palmer to race them, as well.

Not only is Schooenburg running the pig races, she also worked on the design for Kids Kountry. The exhibit is a landscape for goats to move through that reflects their natural habitat.

McGinnis is grateful to all the fair sponsors. Some of the events would have been impossible without their help.

"The midway is sponsored by Marathon Oil. Without their help, we wouldn't have such a fun place for kids to come and do things," she said.

"We're really blessed to have Crowley step in and cover that," she said of the rodeo events.