The Thurston County Fairgrounds have been a second home for the Hernandez family for many years.
Nicole Hernandez showed animals at the Thurston County Youth Market Sale when she was a child, and each of her four children — Jayden, 18; Viktor, 16; Peyton, 15; and Harley, 11 — have grown up in the 4H and FFA world.
Nicole has served as the 4H goat superintendent at the Thurston County Fair for eight years, and both she and her husband Oscar have been involved with the Yelm FFA Alumni Association for years.
Yet this time around at the Thurston County Fair, the fairgrounds felt more like home than ever for the Hernandez family.
On Thursday, July 30, a fire destroyed the Hernandez’s home outside of Rainier, resulting in a total loss of the house and their belongings. Additionally, a family cat did not survive. Fire crews from Bald Hills, Yelm, Lacey, East Olympia and South Thurston responded to the blaze.
Oscar and Nicole and the four boys were all at the fairgrounds when the fire broke out. After Viktor and Peyton finished showing at the fairgrounds for the day, Jayden drove them home, and the three found their house in flames.
The family spent Friday dealing with the aftermath of the fire. With three of the boys scheduled to show animals in the show ring at the Thurston County Youth Market Animal Sale on Saturday, Nicole and Oscar gave them a choice after a devastating and emotionally draining past couple of days.
“We asked the kids if they wanted to come,” Nicole said. “We left it up to them because there’s so many things that we have to check off the list. But they wanted to be here. They’re all here, and they wanted to go through with the sale.”
Just hours after a traumatic loss of their home and belongings, Viktor, Peyton and Harley still showed up to the fairgrounds with smiles on their faces as they introduced themselves and their animals to potential buyers. Viktor and Peyton represent the Rainier High School FFA chapter, while Harley is a member of Jr. 12’s 4H. All three showed chickens, while the elder two boys also showed rabbits.
“They want to focus on this so that they don’t think about anything else. They’re just tired and drained,” Nicole said. “We’re going home, but it’s not to our house. We’ve explained to them that a home is wherever you are, as long as we’re together.”
During the sale, the crowd roar and applause was as loud for the three Hernandez boys as any of the 105 exhibitors during the three-hour auction. The community emphatically showed up for them in their time of need.
Peyton’s reserve champion chickens sold for $30 per pound at a sale weight of 16.8 pounds, and his rabbits sold for $40 per pound at 15.2 pounds. Viktor’s reserve champion rabbits sold for $45 per pound at 12.9 pounds, and his chickens went for $22 per pound at 15.4 pounds. Harley’s chickens sold at $24 per pound at 16.6 pounds.
In addition to the support through the sale of their animals, the McElroy family, longtime friends of the Hernandez family, started a GoFundMe and a MealTrain to collect donations and items. As of Sunday morning, the GoFundMe has raised $3,450.
“They’ve been collecting gift cards for us. They’re our second family,” Nicole said of the McElroys, who had a couple of exhibitors during the sale, as well. “We’ve received a lot of clothes for the kids and for us already. We’ve had people dropping stuff off. Right now, we’re just trying to figure out what we need to move forward and what that looks like.”
Spending the day at the fairgrounds Saturday was an escape from the heavy past 48 hours for the Hernandez family. Nicole and Oscar took the boys to Coastal Saturday morning to get show clothes so they could look their best in the show ring. Throughout the day at the fairgrounds, friends and community members offered hugs and support for the family.
“It gives us a little normalcy back,” Oscar said of being at the fairgrounds. “Of course, people have been coming up to us and saying, ‘We’re sorry about this,’ and we’re thankful. It shows that they’re caring and they’re there for us.”
“It’s been emotional,” Nicole added. “Everybody here is very supportive. It’s very humbling. Without them, we wouldn’t have socks and underwear and toiletries. We wouldn’t have been able to shower. All of the things that we didn’t think about, they took care of right away for us. It was a breath of fresh air.”
To donate to the GoFundMe, visit https://tinyurl.com/wsc25uch.
