DEL MAR —— One by one, children and adults came forward at the San Diego County Fair on Wednesday, waiting to let loose the animals inside them.

Chickens, goats, ducks and monkeys.

For their efforts, many of them walked away to applause and with red and blue ribbons in the daily best animal noise competition.

The daily competition has been one of the woolliest, and most popular, at the fair for at least 15 years, Bill Cobb said Wednesday.

Cobb has patiently emceed the competition for the last 12 years, coaxing small children and their parents onto the O'Brien stage at 11 a.m. daily to bark like dogs, sing like birds and screech like monkeys —— and once, even bite him on the leg like a Chihuahua.

"It used to be farm animals," Cobb said, noting that years ago the fair revolved around celebrating local agriculture. "The first year I was at the fair, (the popular animal noise) was 'moo.' If you could moo and make the cow in the pen —— which was our official mascot —— moo, you got a T-shirt or something. After that, it started getting away from farm animals and into jungle animals."

At Wednesday's event, a handful of small children between the ages of 3 and 5, in voices so tiny that the microphone could barely amplify them, gamely "ssss'd" like snakes, "boc, bock'd" like chickens and even "mooed" like a moose.

"Nice moose," Cobb encouraged.

A slightly more confident collection of 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds followed.

Seven-year-old Patrick Miller, confidently cupping his hand into a loose fist and pressing it to his lips, blew out a duck call that a hunter would be proud of —— then shot his arms skyward in triumph.

Petite 6-year-old Leanna Weaver meowed in a tiny voice.

Her brother, 8-year-old Joshua Weaver —— gesticulating in a herky-jerky manner and shrieking in an increasing loud voice —— channeled a chicken, with an impressive "bocka, bocka, boc, boc," punctuated by a final "boc-BOC!" that sounded like the scream an Olympic weightlifter might emit.

But the blue ribbon was awarded to tiny 6-year-old Taylor List, who did her best monkey voice, animatedly moving her body and breathing in and out to create a "huh, huh, huh" sound.

Holding her ribbon, Taylor said she had a lot of practice making her award-winning sound.

"Yeah, I made up a group at school called Monkzilla and the monkey group," she said. "When I was a little baby, I was at the zoo and a monkey started making its noise, and I started to do it."

But the day belonged to the Weavers. After Joshua took the red ribbon for his chicken, his father —— Steven Weaver —— easily outdid his "turkey" competitor to take the blue ribbon for adults with his own impressive chicken: "Buc-buc-buc —— bucAWWW!"

Afterward, his children excitedly chanted "Daddy, Dad-dee, Dad-dee," then convulsed in laughter.

Weaver's chicken-call was a loser in the best animal call competition on the fair's opening day.

But Janet Weaver, Steve's wife, said he just had to come back for a second try.

With children still barking and clucking, Steve Weaver was asked what his home sounded like.

"A zoo!" he said with a laugh.

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.