Fair Fotos

I've been tied up with a couple of things and expect to be for a while longer. In the mean time, let me treat you to some lovely photos from the fair...

This is a photo of the Roundhouse and it's where we usually start our journey. The Roundhouse is filled with stuff entered by people, twenty years old and older - things like presumably home grown flowers and produce and, as you can see, an abundance of various arts and craft-like objects. Each of these arts and craft-like objects are judged based on some unknown (to me) criteria. Those deemed worthy are awarded a ribbon of various colors and a small check, thus refunding a portion of their Fair entry fee.

Here is a display of some canned (technically, "jarred") vegetables (and maybe some fruits) - each entered by a whole bunch of people, none of which were me. I took the picture just because I liked the way it looked

Upstairs, along with arts and craft-like objects, people enter photographs. This is one of several that Helaina entered.

I spotted this thing on the upper floor, and to be honest with you, I took the picture because at the time, I thought it was pretty funny. But I keep coming back to it, and the more I look at it, the more I like it. This thing has a lot of personality and whoever made it put a lot of passion into it. And even though I find it interesting, I’m not even sure what it it is. I’m thinking it’s either a Totoro or a 3D representation of a Picasso painting. Whatever it is, it should have won first place in the Arts and Craft-like Division.

Here's another picture taken from the upstairs of the Roundhouse.

A lovely display of allegedly locally grown apples.

Normally, we go to the youth version of the Roundhouse, where people nineteen and under submit their creations. But this year, Sam wanted to see the racing pigs, so we had to hustle on over to make the first show. When we first go there, we were the only ones there so the Master of Ceremonies, or whatever you might call him, said there may only be one race since the crowd was so small (i.e.: Sam and me). Fortunately, more people showed up so it was off to the races!

At one point, they brought out the star of the show, "Swifty." Swifty’s talent is that he or she swims - somewhat on command.The ringmaster put Swifty on a platform where an obviously reluctant Swifty had no intention of diving into a tank of cold water at ten o'clock on a chilly and overcast Saturday morning. Instead, Swifty reacted as any normal person or pig would and pooped right where he or she stood. Under similar circumstances, this would have been my exact reaction as well - crowd or no crowd. Unlike me though, Swifty eventually jumped into the water and made the swim. All in all, a great show, and well worth getting up early for!

After the pig races, it was back to explore the junior art and craft-like entries. Sam had several entries, some of which won ribbons.

One of his things that won a ribbon was this scarecrow that he made. This thing sat on the rocking chair in our living room for a week or two before the fair - and creeped out anybody that came into the room and caught sight of it out of the corner of their eye - all to great delight of Sam.

I brought Sam’s Fair entries up for him and on that particular day, one of the ladies that was working there had a doberman which wouldn’t stop barking and snarling at this thing the entire time I was there. I had half expected to see this thing torn to shreds by the time we got to the fair, but no, as you can see, it looks perfectly healthy (relatively speaking.) Currently it’s sitting inside my garage, hopefully keeping the skunks away.

After looking at the Junior entries, we went to check out the wildlife exhibits, including the ever popular skull display.

From there, we went over to the baby animal barn - where they are apparently having a problem with a couple of delinquent sheep who keep lighting up.

Here's a picture of a goat showing Sam his good side.

And here’s a picture of Helaina feeding a different group of young sheep, presumably kept separate to avoid the corrupting influence of  that pair of smoking delinquent sheep.

Walking down the still quiet midway under threatening skies.

What kid doesn't want play a game of chance, in the hopes of winning a giant inflatable pickle?

And here’s a typical food stand that, with the possible exception of the water, is selling a whole lot of stuff that isn't good for you.

After walking through one of the buildings (where I don’t take any pictures because I don’t want to make any eye contact and give any impression that I’m at all interested in what they’re selling), Helaina and I sat on a bench and waited for Sam come out. When he finally joined us, he shows me a charm that one of the vendors gave him. According to Sam, the vendor told him that this is “Mother Jesus” and that it will protect him if he carries it around. Okay.

After running the gauntlet of the second vendor building, we sat outside and shared our traditional Bucket o’ Fries: potatoes - deep fried in some kind of oil, salt, and plenty of ketchup - made from tomatoes and some other stuff - all products of nature! It just proves that if you look hard enough, you can eat healthy, even at a place like this!

When the fries were all gone, the rain started and we made a run for the exit (and some fried dough along the way) - so, no more pictures. But to assuage your disappointment, I’ve included a few photos, which I think I've posted before. They're from a few years ago, of the Fair at night time.

There's something exciting and mysterious - and maybe even slightly disorienting, about walking around the Fair at night time. It holds an odd kind of fascination for me.

I don’t know if it’s because it reminds me of something from when I was younger, some memory I can’t quite grasp, or some distant, hard to remember dream.

Or maybe it’s just the feeling of walking through a brightly lit, swirling kaleidoscope of colors contrasted with deep and sharply drawn shadows - all set against a soundtrack of overlapping conversations and the excited screams and carnival music that floats down from the rides above.

Whatever the reason is, it almost makes it worth it to have to put up with the crowds. Almost.