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| At the fair, the 4-H kids show animals. This calf was one of them this year. |
Every year during the second weekend in September, my town has a community fair. It's an old fashioned fair with exhibits of canned goods, garden produce, and handicrafts of all kinds. There's an ice cream making contest, a pet show, a cake auction, and a tractor pull. There's lots more with a little something for just about everyone. And I really enjoy it.
However this year with everything going on, I said that I wouldn't enter anything or maybe even go. There were other priorities. However, as the fair approached, I started to get a little twitchy thinking about it. And on Thursday, the day to enter things, I couldn't help myself. All of the phone calls and sorting would just have to wait. I was going to enter some things in the fair.
When you enter things at the last minute, there's a lot of things you can't do. However, I managed to gather up some walnuts, flower specimens, a necklace and felted purse I had made. Entering things is part of the fun. I waited in line and talked to others about what they were entering. We talked about the rain during the fair last year and if the favorite local restaurant is ever going to open again. And it's kind of funny, but I feel that if I have seen something go through the entry process, it's sort of mine too. When I go back later with Ward, I always show him the things I saw when I was waiting in line and I check to see if they won any ribbons.
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| My felted purse was the black and red one. |
On Friday, there's another tradition that I continued. After work, I met my sister at the fair and we scoured the exhibits to see if we got any ribbons. Then we had a hot dog that they grill to your exact specifications. (I'm a charred dog kind of person.) This supports the local fire department.
Last night, I took Ward back and I showed him the ribbons I won, and we looked at all of the exhibits. BTW, I got first places for some flowers, walnuts, and my felted purse. I know that they are very liberal with their judging, but seeing a blue ribbon on my things always brings a smile.
So this year, I did enjoy the community fair. And I'm glad I did. All work and no play, was making June a dull girl.
I love your purse and that you ended up with 1st place ribbons after entering at the very last minute :) And you're far from dull! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteIf I hadn't been last minute, I might have entered some baked goods and more flowers. But it was just enough to make it fun.
DeleteCongratulations! That sounds like a lot of fun. You'll still be in your same town in your new house, won't you?
ReplyDeleteI will be in a different town, but it's not far enough away that I can't participate in this fair.
DeleteWhat fun! Congratulations on the blue ribbon. The fair here kind of fizzled out, but there is still a big county fair at the lake place. We are hoping to go to it this year. It is much more rural so I think there will be many more 4H animals than we ever had here.
ReplyDeleteOur county still has a big fair, but it's too big for me to enjoy. And it costs a lot to get in. My local fair is free. I hope you get to the fair at you lake place. It's really a good way to be involved in the community.
DeleteOoh, so how did you make the felted purse? Did you knit it and felt it, then sew it, or did you felt ready-made material? I didn't know you did that kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteWe have a 4H Youth Fair at the end of July. My daughter was in 4H for a few years--we don't have animals, but she would enter in the inanimate part of the fair. I was disappointed the second year she did it--the rules were revised and all the youngest kids (which was her age group) got participation ribbons--they did away with the first and second place ribbons so the kids would all have good self-esteem, or something like that. It was frustrating, because she put a lot of time and effort into her projects, and it showed, and I felt like she should have been recognized for her efforts. I think that was the last year she was in 4H. We do try to attend the fair every year--it's free and it's fun to to see the animals and the baking/craft projects. There's no category for adults to enter, unfortunately.
I knit with wool yard and then felt the finished piece. Usually the purse is the shape I want it to be and then it's smaller after I felt it.
DeleteThis fair is great because they encourage all age groups to enter. They give out a lot of ribbons, so if you enter more than a couple of things, you will probably get one. They also give out prizes to whoever enters the most things. Some people work on things to enter all year and end up entering 50 or more things.
As far as taking away the ribbons for the younger kids, in my opinion, that doesn't need to happen. Maybe with the very young kids, but after school age, kids know if they're good at something or not or whether they put a lot of effort into it. I think it's okay to award places.
I realize that sometimes it's hard because some kids are naturally good at everything and they get more rewards. Or some kids have more resources like money for materials or parental help, and that doesn't seem fair. But I always tried to make that a teaching moment for my kids. Life isn't fair. However, I did encourage them to do things that they could excel at so they could get some recognition for a job well done.
Has your daughter found another activity after 4-H that's a better fit?
She is in a GEMS club, which is a Christian version of Girl Scouts. Lots of the girls in her class attend, so that's a fun thing for her and good for building her social skills. She just started Student Leadership at school and I anticipate she will be in the LINK program at school again this year, which works on matching up kids with autism with non-autistic school kids as a mutual learning and support training. The kids with autism gain a group of kids who are supportive and include them in social activities (which, I'm sure you know, is difficult for them) and the other kids learn techniques for approaching and including children with autism (and, in a broader sense, teaches them about being kind and accepting of people who are different from them). We have struggled over the years with finding extracurricular activities for her--she is extremely shy and tends to be anxious. She dislikes organized sports. Our area is heavy on sports teams and light on other activities, at least until the kids reach middle school. My daughter is gifted with artistic talent--a couple of years ago, her art teacher invited her and my son (who is less naturally talented in that area, but still enjoys art) into her home and taught art techniques to them (and included her own kids, who are of a similar age to mine). That was a neat opportunity for them.
DeleteI hear ya on how not all kids have the resources for participating ... where I grew frustrated was with the kids who threw together something to enter (4H kids in our area have to have a certain number of projects entered--I've forgotten how many) just to get the right number of projects in. There were a LOT of examples of scribbly coloring book pictures entered as "projects" whereas my daughter took the time and effort to complete her (inexpensive!) projects neatly.
Do you have a pattern for your felted purse? That might be fun for me to try! I've been curious about felting my knitted projects, but it kind of scares me--but size wouldn't matter so much for a purse.
Theo was a introverted, shy kid who didn't excel at sports, so it was hard to find activities that were a match for him also. However, he needed to be with other kids to help him be more comfortable around them and in other situations. Year after year, we signed him up for the rec soccer league which wasn't always easy. However, after a few years, he actually became a contributing member of the team. The other kids noticed and so did he. I'm not sure if sticking with the difficult years before were the right thing to do, but it turned out well in the end.
DeleteHe was also in Boy Scouts and more than once he wanted to quit. We said no problem, but he had to find an equal activity to replace it. He wasn't allowed to just stay in his room and never come out. Well, he didn't come up with anything else, and ended up being an Eagle Scout. I'm sure the persistence on that one was the right thing to do.
It sounds like that you're doing a good job finding things to involve your daughter in. She doesn't need to do a lot. Just something to make her feel part of something bigger. The art lessons sounded wonderful. Any chance she would do them again? Or you could find someone else to do a similar thing?
I think I've already packed the purse pattern, but I'll look. If I don't get back to you, it's okay to remind me. As always, I'm sure that there are a lot of them out there on the internet.
In middle school, there is an art club. Her elementary art teacher was moved to the middle school building this year, so when my daughter gets there (in a year), she will have an "in". In the meantime, I feel like we are doing pretty well, activity-wise.
DeleteDon't worry about the knitting pattern! You have enough to do right now!
Congratulations!!! That sounds like great fun, and I can't believe you won so many ribbons!
ReplyDeleteYou know, Rachel over at http://growingthingsandmakingthings.blogspot.com/ wrote a post recently about an agricultural fair in the area where she lives in Wales. I was totally shocked that their fairs include categories for homemade beer and wine, and this sparked an interesting discussion about the temperance movement here vs. there and how it still impacts our cultures.
Anyhow, I'm curious to know, does your community fair have categories for beer and wine? And does that strike you as a cultural clash (alcohol categories at a rural community fair) as it does me? Would love to get your thoughts on that one.
My local community fair does not have a category for beer and wine. In fact, until a year ago it was a dry town--meaning you couldn't even buy alcohol here. However, now you can buy a glass of wine or beer with dinner here.
DeleteBut at the county agricultural fair, the do have a category for beer and wine making. Ward always thinks about entering because he makes beer then and again, but never seems to find the time. Entering things there is much more complicated than here.
As far as what I think, I probably have a skewed view. I grew up with parents who had alcoholic fathers that made their lives very difficult. Thus they totally abstained and there was no alcohol anywhere near our house. Also, drinking, even casually, was not common in the area for religious reasons. So, I learned that drinking was bad--even in moderation. It took me a while as an adult to learn that drinking in moderation is okay and to be comfortable around it.
With all of that being said, I think a beer and wine category is a good one to have. Beer and wine making is pretty popular these days and it's another way to get adults to participate in a community event. The more of a stake someone has in their community, the more likely they are to care about it, and the more likely they are to work for it when needed.
Interesting. My parents were both ACOAs too. My mom almost NEVER drank, but at my dad's house wine was always served with dinner - apparently Italian traditions trump all other concerns!
DeleteAnyhow, I don't have strong feelings about alcohol one way or another, I just tend to associate rural culture with conservative religious values, which generally includes frowning upon alcohol. I just find it interesting that all those things dodn't exactly line up the same way in other countries as they do here.
I don't have a lot of experience, but I hear that drinking at a younger age is much more widespread in Europe than it is here. It's an interesting point to ponder why there are some differences.
DeleteAwesome! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hannah. It was a lot of fun.
DeleteI am so glad you entered your things and went. It's good to have some fun. Life is a lot of worries.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm glad I went too. I've got to more things like this because things are much too intense recently and some of that is in my control from the way I react.
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