Utah pigeon owners are preparing to show off their birds at a major show this weekend.

GRANTSVILLE, Utah. There are many different birds you can fall in love with, but Ralph Lewis met the bird of his dreams when he found the Classic Frill pigeon.

“It’s such a beautiful bird and I admire a lot of other breeds when I go out there, but I just don’t have the room to have 10 different breeds,” Lewis said.

Luckily for him, there’s an event this Friday and Saturday where he can admire all the breeds of pigeons he doesn’t have room to keep: the Salt Lake City Premier Pigeon Show, sponsored by the Utah Pigeon Club.

“This is a big event. We probably have 1,300 to 1,500 different birds, and I would say probably most of the 100 different breeds will be on display at various shows,” Lewis said. “We each show our best birds that we raised this year or raised over the last two, three, four years and compete for these wonderful awards.”

For Lewis, it was his first reward that got him into the pigeon hobby, but now it’s about so much more.

“My favorite part of the hobby is watching the babies grow from a laid egg and hatch in just 19 days, becoming a fully fledged flying bird in six weeks,” he said.

Lewis hopes others will come to the Premier Pigeon Show in Salt Lake City to experience the thrill of Frill and dozens of other pigeons for themselves.

“The exhibition that I have put up here with photographs etc. is intended to attract even other breeders who may be present at the exhibition just like me,” he said.

The show will take place Friday and Saturday in Grantsville at the Deseret Peak Complex. Address: 2930 UT-112. Admission is free to the public.