Sunday, July 31, 2016

County Fair

We visited the county fair somehow accidentally on the day it was free, even the rides! (We did have to pay for parking--$3 dollars in someone's yard.) Although we only made it on the carousel before a thunderstorm, plus Chester only rides rides with me beside him, which rules out almost everything. We had to miss the ferris wheel because the storm was rapidly approaching and the man who managed it was on a power trip, wanting everyone to remain in the line although it was clear that the storm would close it.

The first building at the fair housed award-winning food: Layer cakes slouching on paper plates, cut in half to show off the layers, with a piece on a server. Sometimes there was plastic draped over the top. How are those cakes going to look after a week of heat? The cakes were interspersed with those cookies with hershey kisses in the middle and other randomness.

There were also prize-winning jams, vegetables, and wildflowers in little vases. Why is there a prize for that?

There were lots of different kinds of animals and exceptional cowboy-hat clad young children who manage the animals, expertly hopping over fences and pulling sheep and goats around by their mouths as the animals bleated mournfully. Chester clung to me in fear of the animals. It seems he might not be well-suited to grow up into one of those exceptional 4-H children.

There were cows and pigs and rabbits. The poultry building was transformed into a garage displaying old tractors. There were horses and miniature horses and cows. And there were more exotic animals like llamas and camels and a reindeer, baby zebra, and porcupine. And there was a small petting zoo where you could feed the animals carrots if you wanted, which Chester did not want. Plus, you had to pay $1 for the carrots. Chester is a child who saves us money.

There were rows of stands of fried food. It was deeply unfortunate that the stand that was smoking various meats was not yet open. We settled on a fried fish sandwich and french fries and a sweet waffle.

Oh, and I nearly forgot: There was some big construction and farm equipment on display that I never would have noticed, had it been for Chester's enthusiastic pointing; it pleased him probably most of all.

3 comments:

Miss Self-Important said...

Baby Leopard was re-named?

Edge and I once went to the Illinois State Fair when we were in college, and saw a life-sized cow made entirely of butter.

Emily Hale said...

Ha. I renamed him in a parenthood update that I have not yet posted. :)

Woah. Seems like it could easily sink down to the floor.

Miss Self-Important said...

It was kept chilled in a glass case, I think. At the very least, we definitely could not touch the butter cow.

Also, unrelated, but I thought of you when I read this: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/stranger-guest-literature-pregnancy-new-motherhood/#!