Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Three Beautiful Things about the Fair

If you read my posts last week, you read about our day at the Skagit County Fair. It is a small fair - the fairgrounds are practically right in downtown Mt. Vernon. But they had everything that's necessary for a fair - the carnival - the rides, the food booths with their enticing smells - the steer that is as big as out kitchen... (Sorry to say, we missed Valentine's Performing Pigs ) but I took my spinning wheel and created quite a stir of my own in the sheep barn.

I grew up going to the North Central Washington Fair in Waterville. There were certain things you "had to do" at the fair - one was go to the Lions Club barn for the best hot beef sandwich you'd ever had - the floor was covered in sawdust, giving it an "outdoorsy" smell. The whole family would go together, and daddy would always find a cousin or two to sit with (who were those people, anyhow?) As I got older, I participated in the 4-H events - baking pies, cookies and preparing a whole meal for a panel of judges. My ace in the hole was beef stroganoff (still a favorite dish to prepare to this day). I also did sewing and clothing activities - even went to "State Fair" in Puyallup one year! I learned a lot from my 4-H activities, as well as the many friends I made.

So my TBT's about the fair are:

  • The corn dog that The Shepherd brought me for lunch - the crust was crispy and he put lots of yellow mustard on it!

  • Watching the faces of the children as they came through the barn with their moms and dads - sneaking a little pet on a sheep here and there -
  • The happy memories that the sights, sounds and smells brought to mind.

3 comments:

Sharon said...

Oh, I do love fair - the smells of the animal pens, the rustle of straw and the carnival food, well, and looking at the entries of 4Hers and gardeners, etc. For us that carnival food includes Indian fry bread, which should be illegal because it tastes so very good and is so very bad for you.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the fair was a lot of fun! And thank you so much for your sweet comments on my blog! The Sweet Sixteens Reunion was just wonderful.

Purrs and snuggles from Marilyn.

Around Your Wrist said...

very good and beautiful things!

mom's got all of next week off (3 mental days and 2 days of vacation)...bliss!