Our first stop is at the cinnamon roll booth where the cinnamon rolls ate 4” inches square, are covered with pecans and have none of those fake ingredients with which I cook (see yesterday’s blog.) They stick to your fingers, melt in your mouth and go right to your hips (only on me). We bought one, asked them to cut it into 1/4’s, got some coffee and headed for some benches in the area. Ummm. Jack wasn’t sure he had enough of the suggary goodness so he bought another one. And, after some serious drooling on Gary’s and my parts, he shared.
There are just some things you have to see at the fair:
the fruits and vegetables that people have submitted for judging (though by the 9th day of the fair, they are not their best)
the butter cow which is a tradition in the fair. I was surprised to read that they use the same butter for about 12 years. This is the first year that the apprentice butter sculptor has sculpted the butter cow since the one and only original sculptor, Duffy Lyon, died earlier this spring. I also learned that the butter cow is not really a ‘butter’ cow. It is a hollow wooden structure with chicken wire shaped to look like a cow. Then the butter is molded around this. I thought it was a huge glob of butter on a stand all molded to look like a cow. I’m thinking Rodin.
the tenderloins
the campgrounds where the same families camp in the same places year after year and will this spot to their children and their children and their children. Some of these spots are terribly horizontally challenged. Look at the wood under the jacks on this 5th wheel.
the seed and husk art
the largest bull, the largest pig and the largest watermelon. The state fair is all about BIG.. But here is a small playful calf for petting
the peach ice cream
the animal judging
the bunny and chicken coops
the youngest and oldest fiddler contests
the people watching.
the fried butter on a stick. OMG - we did not have that nor did we even see it. Every year there is at least one new fair food and this year it was fried butter. Now, doesn’t that just curdle your insides? I read that it tasted like a cinnamon roll since they had cinnamon in the batter in which the butter was fried.
Now, lest you to think that all we come to the fair for is the food, let me inform you that your’re right. The fair is all about food. On the other hand, Gary and I share the ice cream, the tenderloin and the cinnamon roll. So, it is only 1/2 bad.
Actually, the fair is all about the animals and we always make it a point to walk through the cattle, the horse, the pig and the goat and lamb barns to see the 4H’ers and the families with the prize animals. Each family sets up its own area with its name, the ribbons it’s won, often an overhead photo of their farm and pictures of their prize animals. In each area are lots of coolers, cots, chairs and duffels. These people live here watching their animals.
The usual gag in the animal barns is a spider on a string rigged up in the rafters to bounce up and down in front of unsuspecting city-folk cruising the barns. We didn’t see it this year and that is unusual. We did see this chair. Yep, the fair is all about BIG.
Several years ago, we were at the fair in the evening and got to watch the horse pull where they hitch the team of horses to a large sled onto which they put ever heavier weights. One of my favorite but, since it’s held at night, we don’t get to see it often.
One of the funniest phenomenons to watch is the 5:00 changeover. During the day it is families and older couples like Gary and I and tends to be older. We hit the Varied Industries building to see what new hot tub, gutter system or siding we would like on our home. And, where are those Sham-wow’s? In the evening the families go home and the younger couples and singles come out for the concerts, the bars, midway and the games of chance.
Finally we three were tired, had eaten our fill and it was time to head back to the VFW lot to retrieve our car and head home. As we approached the lot, we noticed a Jeep which looked like the one we traded in in June. We looked more closely, there was tell-tale towing hook-up in front, there was the small dent on the right fender, there were the rub marks from our bike rack. Sure, enough, right in front of our new Jeep was parked our Old Jeep. We wish we could have spoken to the new owners but didn’t want to wait for them. What are the chances of these two Jeeps being in the same out-of-the way parking lot at the Fair? Here they are with our new Jeep to the right of the white garage and our old Jeep in front.
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