"A Fair of the Heart" returns this weekend to the Boulder Valley at the fairgrounds south of Boulder.

The fair features exhibits, a rodeo, contests, musicians and an old-fashioned barbecue and barn dance.

Kids have their own horse show and rodeo on Friday. They'll line up at 11:45 a.m. at City Hall and walk down Main Street at noon.

The Bi-County Rodeo starts at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Exhibits from pets to photography to petunias are open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. They include a vegetable competition, with this year's featured veggie -- the lowly beet. Kids and adults use beets to create an animal, insect or whatever their imagination devises.

Live music plays at the fairgrounds throughout the weekend. Lynn Marie and the Wobblyboy perform from 10 a.m. to noon and again from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday. The Udderly Divine Bovines perform at 1 p.m. and will have fairgoers chuckling at the trials of calving time and other country tribulations.

The Jefferson County Rodeo Association puts on a fast-paced, two-day NRA rodeo Saturday and Sunday, starting at 2 p.m.

Other Saturday events include the Rodeo Association Parade starting at noon.

At 4:30 p.m. baked goods are auctioned to benefit the fairgrounds, with pies and cakes going for hundreds of dollars.

A traditional beef barbecue, prepared by the Boulder Methodist Church, brings people together for a home-cooked feast in the huge white barn Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

The evening ends with a real barn dance with live music by Rocky Mountain Renegades, a chance for folks from toddlers to teens to grandparents to kick up their heels.

Sunday events feature a breakfast to benefit the carousel, a dog show, live music by the Watercarvers Guild, a kids' stick-horse rodeo at 11 a.m., and a free kids treasure hunt in the straw at noon.

For fair information, call 225-4025, e-mail bullheadm@aol.com, or go to the Jefferson County Web site at www.jeffco.mt.gov/county/fair. For rodeo information, call 225-3234.