What a fun day! Mom and I went to the State Fair (actually there's two "state fairs" for some reason, but this one is close by.) The weather was in the 70s and sunny, so not too hot and not raining. With the deluges we have been having lately, I was very appreciative of not having to get soaked while walking around.

We parked the truck at a Park N'Ride so we could ride the bus and avoid the hassle of traffic plus parking ($5 to park.) It was Senior Citizen Day, so Mom got in free. I got a $2-off coupon and got in for $5. This is a big fair, with big-name country folks performing ( I guess; I am not a C& W fan....shhhhh...so I am only assuming!) But they also had Creedence Clearwater Revisited (sic), Kansas (remember "Dust in the Wind?") and oh, I dunno...names you would recognize. Oh yeah, the Oak Ridge Boys; Amy Clawson (whoever she is) etc.. Plus a bunch of car race stuff. Last night I watched the fireworks from my front porch (I don't even live that close by, but they were really high and loud.) Anyway, we spent a lovely afternoon at the fair.

The first thing we went to was supposed to be the 4-H sheep demonstrations...unfortunately, nobody had signed up to demonstrate, and the goats were "hogging" (ahem!) the show ring....lots of little kids barely controlling their pigmy goats, but also lots of big-uddered dairy goats as well. btw, an Oberhasli won Best of Show...a big doe...weird, huh? Anyway, we walked through the sheep barns and looked at the kids getting their sheep ready to show..washing, and doing a little shearing, etc. We saw almost all breeds, including Jacob and Navajo Churro. I also saw the fleeces they had judged this morning, and I felt okay about my sheep from my guys (no, I didn't enter, but maybe next year.) I met the girl who got the blue ribbon for Romney (white) and asked her if she would be interested in buying a ram or two. Surprizingly, she said she might! Hooray!

We also looked at beautiful displays of Grange canned goods, etc. I am always so impressed at how they lay all that stuff out, with the eggs, and nuts, and living herbs, etc.

We looked at displays of flowers, and the biggest vegetables grown. Big vegetables!!!!

We saw a 4-H cat costume show. Funny! I think the kids trying to show were even funnier than the cats in costume! My cats wouldn't hold still for anything in front of an audience. Yours?

We saw incredibly well-done quilts, apparel, and knitted, tatted, and crocheted items. And of course, we saw the fiber arts items. drool, drool, drool....oh my! There were women spinning, weaving, carding wool, warping a loom, etc. I spent a lot of time with them and am going back to spin with them next week!

We ate really pretty greasy food (big tacos that were mostly onion instead of the chicken as advertised) and I ate a huge waffle cone sundae. (burp! excuse me!) We didn't go on any rides, but there must have been 50 to chose from. There were free concerts all afternoon. There were the expected vendors (some were really bizarre) hawking their wares.

Did I mention the dairy cows? Sheesh! What beauties....and I couldn't even tell you how HUGE they were. We didn't get to the horse events or barns....Mom was getting tuckered. Mr. S. and I will go back again next week to see more sheep and see the draft horses and mules (some of my favorite events.)

But the best part was that the seniors had the place almost to themselves...even though they were moving slowly, they were moving. Very cool! I heard a lot of "when I was a kid..." statements being started. They looked like they were having fun. Mom had a blast! Me, too!

Guess I just wanted to share some of this with you. Do you guys go to fairs around you? Do you exhibit? I would love to hear!

-- Anonymous, August 24, 2001

Answers

Yes!!!!!!

Minnesota has the second biggest fair in the nation, and I don't think I have missed it in any year I've lived here! To demonstrate how wonderful it is, my partner, who grew up in the suburbs of LA,and has wanted, over the past 26 years that we have been together, basically little or nothing to do with my farming stuff (although she tried to want to, really hard!) ...............................

pleaded with me tonite.......(after all the critters are sold and gone....................).

to take her to the fair...........

did I mention that she has a broken foot? that it is painful for her to take two steps? that I told her she is nuts to even consider going this year? she won't listen to any of my 'drivel"; she is going to the fair, gol dangit!

Thanks sheeepish, for you fun meanderings; I will let you know how my fairly delicious trips (for we always go many many times).......... go!

blessings, '

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001

We always used to go to the County Fair when I was a kid. It was really piddly, but since no one would take us to the larger ones within driving distance (gee, one was ONLY an hour away and the other was two hours). We'd go on all sorts of rides and eat cotton candy. I think I knew even then that the hotdogs were likely to be dangerous. But we also would go and look at ALL the exhibits -- if for no other reason, to see if anyone we knew had entered things. Julie got pretty good at entering stuff when she was in her teens and won stuff. I never had anything ready on time (this is a life pattern for me!).

I never have gone to the BIG county fair down here, nor to the State Fair. I was going to try the county fair here this year, for the exhibits (not going on those rides that either terrify me, make me want to puke, or both). But it was 'on' during that +90's spell, and I just couldn't do it. I heard on the news that their attendance was WAY down this year, blamed on the heat. Probably just as well, I would have been worried about the animals in the heat if I had to see them. So, hopefully, next year!

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001

Missed our State Fair this year for the first time since Sis was born (17 years). Working too much and always hated going on the weekends anyway, which is the only time Hubby could have gone with me this year. We never saw any of the big name shows, but we saw an awful lot of critters - the state's largest boar contest comes to mind, along with the chickens, of course! And the food...oh, the food! Start out with the Tom Thumb donuts - a bag apiece at least! Wander over to the dairy building to see the cow carved out of butter; well, gotta have a cream puff and then a scoop of butter pecan ice cream. Walk that off on the way to the big exhibition hall to look at all the vegetable, fruit and farm product displays; the stitchery items and crafts. Huh, apiary stuff is way over near the 4-H building - that's okay, the Ethnic Village is on the way - 14, or was it 16 different booths with different cuisines? We'd split up and go to three or four booths each; then meet up and share out the spoils. Groan! Time for a little rest and watching the German Polka band and the Irish cloggers. Then through the horse barns, admiring the Budweiser Clysdales and all the huge draft horses; watch the smithy demonstrate his skill. On to the cattle to see them getting all trimmed up and their tails teased up into a bouffant that would put any 60's teen to shame. Through the apiary display, trying a sample of honey candy. Then, a lemon shake-up for the long walk up to the Conservation area and see how well we could do identifying trees and animal tracks. Admiring the native fish swimming in the big tank and sitting enchanted during the birds of prey show. Watching the lumberjack show and laughing at their silly antics - 'specially the log rolling contest; and admiring the chainsaw carvings. On the way back to the main part of the fair, passing by the broom maker, the candle dipper and the basket weaver - with a stop at the Kettle corn stand - gotta have energy for that long walk back, don'tcha know! The walk back to the parking area goes right past the Illinois Producers tent - Beef, Pork and Lamb; again we split up and meet back at the table to divvy up and chow down. A root beer float or milkshake for the slow walk to the car, not forgetting to stop and pick up a box of black walnut salt water taffy and a few more bags of those little donuts.

Waaaahhh!! I wanna go to the fair!

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001

Didn't go to our Bangor State Fair..too commercialized for us, but we ALWAYS go the the Blue Hill Fair at least two or three times. The Blue Hill Fair is what the author E. B. White based his children's books on, most notably "Charlotte's Web". I don't exhibit my dairy goats (hate to get up in front of crowds!!), but I've watched other folks exhibit goats that I bred! I LOVE country fairs!!! Especially the food :-)!!

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001

This thread was making me VERY nostalgic. We only have a weeny little County Fair here, and I didn't go this year. We have had an outbreak of Equine Encephalitis and most everyone avoided the horse show there like, well, the Plague. I've also had so much garden work to do, and it was so hot....all those excuses.

But now I'm wishing I'd gone.

I did used to enter everything that I feasibly could, made a real hard effort in advance of the Fair and would then gleefully rake in the cash winnings, which would be my spending money for pretty much the next year up until Fair time again. Mostly cooking and baked goods and artwork, some flowers. Now I'd like to try taking some of my produce in, but with our short growing season, it's really hard to have anything spectacular to show in early August. Apples, for instance, are nowhere near ready to pick and show. I was always afraid to exhibit my animals there for fear of what some idiot would do to them. When I've taken my horse to the horse show, I would not leave the trailer unless I had someone else there watching her at all times (so I could go to the bathroom or get something to drink).

Hopefully we'll get to the Rennaissance Fair over in Shakopee yet this year. It's a very commercial venture of course, but it's also very reminiscent of the old original fairs where people came once a year to buy goods and luxuries. Of course, they have things like jousting (and I usually pick out a horse to 'buy' from the ones I see there, altho I don't go home with one physically! Got enough already!). There is a really cool bay Tobiano drafter that works there, can't remember what his breeding is, something really unlikely, and he is blind, but they use him for pulling a cart in the parades and he listens to his driver and trusts him. Really neat big horse. Oh yeah, and they've got the food there too. You could go home sick as a dog if you aren't careful! We didn't have breakfast one day, thought we'd get it there, and the cinnamon bun place was so busy, we went on -- saw the Cream Puffs and thought, well hey, why not? Yikes! They were the size of cantaloupes! They must have had a pint of whipped cream (real stuff) in them! Then drizzled with chocolate. I had to throw half of it away or I'd get sick.

Then of course, there is roasted sweet corn, roasted turkey drumsticks, Scotch Eggs, Rope cake (Funel cakes), Steak on a stake, The Queen's Caramel Apples, Florintine ices, Beer-Cheese soup in a breadloaf bowl, hard cider and mead (pyment, melomel--), Brats of course, huge Gedney dill pickles, fried cheese curds (if you want your blood to curdle in your veins -- one of our favourite entertainers used to hand-squeeze the liquid grease out of them on stage) and tons of other stuff that I never get around to trying --

If you're REALLY adventurous, there are the French Fried Dill Pickles, and The King's Nuts (don't ask).

Of course I like to go to the jousting -- you get to hurl all sorts of insults at the opposition. Usually, I don't like mimes, but I will cheerfully (and laughing myself into tears) go to see Michael the Mime there, as well as Arsene Dupin from Paris (juggler & magician), and the ever-popular, Puke and Snot. Less than a charming name, and rather vulgar humor, it is much like medieval entertainment was like (Shakespeare was considered crude and common remember). One of them at least is an English Teacher the rest of the year, they are an extremely popular act (comedy, swordfighting, poetry, and vegetables) -- you have to wait in line to get to see them. Unfortunately, my favourite act, The Flaming Idiots, have gone on to bigger and better things.

They've also had a raptor show there in the past, something we're always eager to go to. One year they asked for a volunteer from the audience and I nearly trampled the competition to get to work with the bird, even tho it was a minor thing. After the show I always go and inquire as to what has happened to the birds they had the previous year and find out if their rehabilitation has been successful and if they have been released. They had the cutest little Barn Owl performing one year -- I would so have loved it to have had it released around here, but there was little chance of finding a mate here.

We always have to go and inspect all the clothes for sale of course. Sometimes I add to my wardrobe. Sometimes I just get ideas of what I'm going to make when I get home. There are some really neat woven goods there.

There isn't much in the way of rides at the Renn Fair. They do have a big gondola shaped like a griffen with wings and all, on ropes, that they push back and forth as a big swing that you can ride in, some kids rides such as ponies, llamas, camels, and elephants, (the camels are terrible alcoholics and will steal your beer if you aren't careful around them -- their owner told me that one Labor Day weekend his one camel was so drunk that he had to get a forklift to load him into the trailer. I don't know if he was serious or not.), and you can play all kinds of traditional Fair games, such as trying your hand at archery, throwing javelins, tossing vegetables, darts, Tug-o- War, etc. You can also go to various tarot and palm readers if that is your desire. There are lots of musical groups -- singing, guitar, harp, bowed psaltry, hammered dulcimer, even didgeridoos -- and lots of handmade instruments for sale. I am always tempted by the bowed psaltry myself. Maybe one of these years.

Oh and the vendors! You can buy necklaces made out of horseshoe nails, crystal globes, handwoven clothes, handmade boots, honey goods and hand-dipped candles, stoneware pottery fired there, mouth-blown glass, stained glass, wood wares, handmade brooms, wonderful toys, and lots of other things that homesteaders probably really don't need, but if someone really wanted to make a business of it, there's a lot of ideas for homestead-crafted sales there.

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

Julie...gee! The Society for Creative Anachronism has a faire like you described (I think yearly and don't remember when...) But you made it sound so interesting, even someone as boring as ol' 21st- century me could find it fun. I think I'll check it out (although I wonder if it could be anywhere near as wonderful as the faire you described...still it is rather a big one, I think.) Thanks. Here's a toast to you with some of our mead! (ugh...how many years do we have to let that sit b4 I can drink it??? LOL!)

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

There's a Ren Faire near Spokane, Miz S. I know nothing about, just found the site searching around on the web: http://www.angelfire.com/wa/NWRenaissanceFest/index.html

Looks like they've only been around a few years. Most of Julie's descriptions are about the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in Shakopee -- that's the one we've been to the most. That one has been going since 1969.

Here's a site for links to Faire's around the country: http://www.cygnus.com/~meissner/ren.html

And another one: http://www.faires.com/ByStateText.html

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001

Thanks for the info. Spokane is what, ~300 miles from here, but it's accessible in a day. As my daddy used to say, "the only good things to come out of Spokane were Highway 10 and (sheepish)"....Highway 10 now being Interstate 90, and of course the nickname sheepish wasn't even an embryonic concept! But I *was* born in Spokane, so I guess the joke is still mildly amusing (at least to me!)

Looks like it could be a lot of fun...I'll check out the links. THX!

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2001