Every year our little local town, a small town with a big heart, hosts a local fair. 
The Fair has been going on for more than 160 years now. The side shows are deliciously gaudy and the food is inedible on the street, but that is what it is all about and there is a whole hall filled with pickles and cakes and breads and vegetables for the judging ( I hope to visit them tomorrow) , but there is a charm and deep local presence that makes this a very special day. 
The people who show their animals with such pride are also nodding with gratitude to a fecund past filled with glory and vigor. There is an iron clad connection straight back through almost 200 years of the very same event. This is where small town America will not give up. It has taken a beating but refuses to lie down and sigh. 
The young people show their animals joyously and are sure of their place in this world, one cannot help but smile and encourage them. 
Even when you do not win at the side shows, it is all good.
It could be worse.
There is a rightness about this summer day. When you can just sit and watch your world go by and be completely at home with it. It must be truly wonderful to live in the town you grew up in. Where you know everyone. To belong.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
56 responses to “The Fair”
That sheep was as smooth as vanilla ice cream. Just beautiful. Every year I say let’s go to the fair –either in Springfield or up in Wisconsin. We never have mainly because the crowds on the highway are overwhelming. But I know I’d love a fair. I was surprised how many cattle there were, considering this is a small town!
Ireland has a long-standing tradition of country fairs and agricultural shows stretching back more than 250 years. Hiring fairs, where young farm labourers and servant girls were selected for work, were common throughout the 19th and the early years of the 20th centuries.
The hiring fairs were a humiliating experience for many young workers. Labourers were forced to line up while farmers scrutinised them for their working potential. The fairs were normally held twice a year, once in spring and once in autumn, and usually coincided with the buying and selling of horses.
Bizarrely, inspecting workers teeth was a common practice, suggesting most farmers viewed their potential employees in much the same way as they saw their horses. Most hiring fairs died out around the time of the First World War.
Over the past 30 years, the fairs have suffered from a less than flattering image. As the agricultural content of the fairs declined, many country fairs gained a reputation for tacky bric-a-brac stalls, dodgy merchandise and greasy food sold by ‘incomers’ from the back of vans.
Such a pity.
The fair is going on here also. I hate the tears when the kids must sell their animals, but it ’tis what it ’tis. I hope you find a great cow!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
I didn’t even know there were fairs like this anymore! I generally avoid our local fair because it’s just a bunch of bad music and crazy rides that aren’t enjoyable. You’re so lucky to get this experience and get to live in a place that still has these kinds of fairs.
This is so warm and lovely. Thank you for my morning grin.
I love these candid people shots at the fair. We have Native American Fair here this week. I could hear a Native American flute being played in the distance this morning when I let the dogs out. The soothing tones took me back – to what I do not know but it was a feeling of long ago – perhaps a past life? Some things of these festivals and celebrations of small town (or region) are wonderful traditions that I love to experience every year.
That looks like great fun, I wonder if you’ll find someone new for the farmy… 😉
Luckily our county fairgrounds is only 5 miles away down a country road. I go to see the animals and handiwork of the locals. Years ago I entered baked goods and even won a few ribbons for my efforts. Indian fry bread is a big thing here (funnel cakes), but things are changing, too. Too commercial nowadays, except for the 4H kids and their animals. Small farmers are the backbone of our country. Big Ag is trying to destroy them for more profits.
JOhn LOVES funnel cakes. this is why he goes to the fair, that and a corn dog.. once a year..
I have loved going to our town fair every year since I can remember. It was sad to miss it when we lived in NH! And also sad in a way not to “belong” as you said. I can imagine with you being so incredibly far from your home town that you feel that way as well. And I think small towns can sometimes make it worse! I’m happy to know the piggie’s ears were just nothing but a little snip and not to make them cute for spectators. I had to ask though, you know how that is! I always cringe when people asked us if our dog’s tails are docked. You never know what kind of a response you’re going to get when you say yes. But they must be because they’re long and they snap and break in the woods while hunting. I would rather them go through a quick snip at birth than a broken tail and the pain later in life.
Those sheep shearers always amaze me for some reason. And the wool just looks so pristine. Love the fair! Lovely photos! 🙂 ~ April
The last time I went to our county fair…the Los Angeles County Fair…was probably about 20 years ago. I refuse to go back. It’s massive! You need a 2-day pass to see everything, and it’s so crowded, and expensive, and more commercial than anything. I much prefer the tiny county fair where my dad and grandmother live, where the highlights are piglet racing, Bingo, and guessing when a very pregnant cow will give birth. (Or maybe I just have a hidden penchant toward gambling!) Where you’re very likely to find the name of a friend or neighbor on a jar of peaches or a blue-ribbon formal place setting, and animals destined for the freezer are pampered and pristine.
I love funnel cakes, too. And what you have written should be put in your small town paper just as you have written it. It says it all.
We don’t have ‘Fairs’…..we have The Show, usually prefaced by the town’s name and sometimes Agricultural as well. South the Royal Sydney Show and north is the Brisbane Ekka. My home town has a wonderful Show, complete with the rides, sticky food and show bags, but also a great agricultural section, where the best of produce and animals are exhibited. And school children are still entering their handwork, or biggest pumpkin or competing in the show jumping (horses), there’s the sheep dog trials, which I never miss, and the Grand Parade, where all the animals and their proud owners do a couple of laps of the arena. Many people in this area go back to first settler days…..you meet people with the same name as local roads, parks and buildings, it gives such a sense of continuity…. not me, I’m a dandelion seed too, blown about from place to place, although taken root here. I loved visiting your fair with you today.
I have been to many Fairs and Shows and they are always fun for just the reasons you highlighted. Have you ever seen more burnished and beautiful animals? Trimmed and cleaned to within an inch of their lives! Lovely post Celi!
I went yesterday to our local fair, the Brisbane Ekka, which has been going for about as long as your fair. It is huge and full of all sorts of rubbish, but the well loved animals are there and children having fun. It is not all about side show alley and show bags. It is often the only place where city children can see farm animals and I think it is great. Big or small, long live the fair!
Our county fair is where all of our FFA and 4h’ers show their projects. Only students can show animals. It’s where a lot of scholarship money is earned too. And like John, I gots to have me some funnel cake!! We too have the carnies and such but it’s a huge deal for our little county, in fact the school districts cancel classes on the Friday of the fair because so many kids are absent in order to show their animals and baked goods. For me the county fair embodies that small town American spirit and everyone rallies together for the good of the community and the students.