Monday, September 8, 2025

Fair

 Another community fair has come and gone, and I enjoyed participating in it once again.

I'm always amazed at how some people still have good vegetables growing.
By this point, mine are all eaten with bugs and or rotting.

Now that I don't have to work every Thursday night when the fair accepts entries, I was able to help with that process. I thought I was coming to help put the flower entries in order, but I ended up being on the front line checking in entries. And that was crazy. For the entire four hours of submission time, the lines were long and there was no time for breaks. (Although I did manage to sneak away for a bathroom visit.) 

My job was to make sure that everything was entered in the right category and was correctly tagged. Some people prepare for the fair all year, and I checked in some people who had 60 or more entries. Next time, I'll show you what Ward and I entered.

Somehow, I didn't take many pictures, and these certainly don't feature all of the things that were happening, like a vegetable car race or the ice cream churning contest. But here are a few scenes from this weekend.

This was the first time they had rabbit Olympics, where the rabbits had to jump over bars of various heights. Wally and I enjoyed watching the rabbits, who were often more interested in exploring than jumping.


We watched kids compete as they milked the cows. The cow cutout had a bladder filled with water.


4-H kids raise livestock all year, and local businesses buy it at the fair. This cow was getting fluffed up for showing.




There were more baked goods entered than last year.
This year, they had to add an extra table.


All parts of this boba tea cake were edible. It was amazing to see in person.
 In the lower corner is a Subway sandwich cake that was also impressive.


I saw a lot of fine needlework (and checked a lot in),
but this woven scarf was especially impressive.

Of the various collections entered (mostly by 4-H kids), I liked this teeth collection the best. Maybe that's because I used to find teeth and jawbones in my backyard at the old house. I enjoyed figuring out who they used to belong to.


One of my backyard finds. A deer jawbone.


Until next time...


8 comments:

  1. I miss fairs like that. When I was a kid the State Fair was so impressive.

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    1. This is smaller than the county and state fairs. There are enough activities to be fun, but its small enough that crowds and parking are usually not a problem. The only thing that it's missing is a carnival, but other events in the area have that.

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  2. You had your work cut out for you with managing the entries. I bet you are good at that kind of detailed work.

    Fairs are fun. We really enjoy our county fair, which is a 4H fair (I don't think adults can submit entries). My daughter was in 4H for a few years and participated in entering crafts and baking. She thought about showing a rabbit one year, until she learned that she had to do more than just cuddle with the bunny. :) Speaking of rabbits, the Olympics looks like it would have provided a lot of laughter.

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    1. I will say that my training of working with the public at the library helped with my fair work. Most people were good, but there were a couple that weren't happy.
      The festival in my hometown only had entries for kids if they were in 4-H. However, they had categories for adults. This fair embraces everyone and encourages entries. As I was picking up my things at the end, people were already talking about what they were going to start working on for next year.
      The rabbit Olympics definitely brought a few chuckles.

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  3. I can imagine the lines at check-in were a challenge, but it must have been so rewarding seeing all the effort people put into their entries. That woven scarf and teeth collection are such unique touches; it really shows the heart people put into their hobbies. www.melodyjacob.com

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    1. I did enjoy seeing what everyone had to enter and there were some amazing things, the photos especially. I think some of these people could be working for National Geographic.

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  4. That sounds like the perfect fair. Ours is all about the animal sales and money and performers. I haven't been in years. Your sounds delightful!

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    1. You would like this fair, and I bet if you'd lived closer, you'd be doing storytelling during it.

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