The Fair

People are either fair people or fair ignore-rs. I'm the former. I love fairs. I especially love state fairs, but I only want to go to a particular state's fair once. Our little Clinton County Fair I've gone to every one of my 29 chances, almost. I think I've missed no more than four. And now that I think about it, I may even have blogged about the fair once before--since I never tag my blogs, it will be up to you, dear reader, to tell me. And then to ignore this post. And its pretty pictures from a few years ago.


This year we went with friends who live in Montreal. I say it this way because they're both Americans from MA, older than I am, younger than Bruce, and they've lived in Montreal for 35+ years. Walt just retired from the geology faculty at Universite de Montreal and Anne retired a few years ago after many years teaching ... was it French to English-speakers or vice versa?, at the elementary school level. We four get along great and it was a lot of fun to have someone to go to the fair with.


Bruce & I always go to look at everything at the fair. We visit the commercial exhibits: Tupperware, gourmet dog treats, woodstoves, tie-dye t-shirts, RVs. You get the picture. We examine the crafts: painting, photography, crocheting, knitting, wood carving, quilting. Some entries are really very good and others are county-fair quality.

We watch the chainsaw "art" carvers. We go into the little museum that has old homely items set up in a house-from-back-when kind of exhibit. I see so many things that my grandma in Brillion, WI, had: crank telephone, hand pump at the kitchen sink, woodstove with bread oven. And since the horse barns are close to that, we walk through them and talk to the horses and their kid riders/caretakers.

The 4-H barn is one of my favorites. The displays of the projects made by kids, from 2-L Coke bottles made into penguins to dioramas of the stable and corral at someone's farm, are just too sweet for words.






With the small animals display--this year that category included Silkie chickens, a breed I think might be the Paris Hilton of chickenhood--the 4-H barn is the best.

The kids who take care of animals, from lop-eared rabbits to warmblood horses (I think there might have been one there) are so earnest it almost brings tears.

Walt voiced it nicely: "You see city kids. And their attitudes. Then you come here and see these kids. Their dedication and genuine care for their animals. It makes you think we just might have a chance after all." He and Anne hadn't been to our little fair and I think they enjoyed themselves. I know we were glad to have them along.

But in a purely venal vein (I can say that, right? I mean, venal doesn't come from vein, does it? Rats. Now I have to look it up! [cue Jeopardy music here] I knew it didn't!) I won about $9 in the quarter-push machines plus 2 little plush turtles I can send to K&C. And I didn't even mention the food!

No corndog this year. I went for the Southern heart-attack special, BBQ!! I dove into my "loaded fries" with gusto: lightly seasoned fries topped with your choice of pulled pork or chicken or beef--pork for me--topped with cheese and two kinds of BBQ sauce. I can feel my heart trying to _ _ _-dial (what's an internal organ equivalent of butt-dial?) a cardiologist right now. But the message will probably be slurred by the remnants of the maple-walnut ice cream cone I got from those adorable 4-H-ers, and the cotton candy I just finished, sharing heavily with a most appreciative large dog.

The rain held off until we were almost ready to go. We actually had great fair weather (pun intended) because it was cloudy and somewhat cool. It might be fun in the sun, but it can get hot, sweaty and very aromatic really quickly at a fairgrounds. Unfortunately, the rain put a damper on the truck pull, something Bruce wanted to see a bit more of. You notice I specified Bruce in that sentence. Me? I like walking through the cow barns better. And now I'll just let everything digest. If it can.

God, I love the fair!