Evergreen State Fair

It's State Fair time again - time for all the 4-H-ers to show their stuff, time for cookware demos, plastic toy sales, hot-dogs-on-a-stick and carnival rides. Our state fair may not be the best state fair but it's OURS and we love it.

This year we arrived in time to watch pig races. And boy can those little guys run! (Or, as we were exhorted by the MC: "Watch this little pack of porkers pounding the pavement...")

There were chickens with feathers on their feet, bunnies with long hair on their ears, pygmy goats with massively pregnant bellies, shorn sheep, clipped goats and braided horse tails. There were a dozen little girls riding bare-back... (um, bare-back riding... um, there is just no way to put that down in print without it looking like a clarification is needed about who, exactly, is 'bare.' Not the little girls)... teen boys guiding pigs around a ring with canes, dogs being obedient, cats being judged, Clydesdales being big, and cavies just taking naps. Informational signs were everywhere letting us know that sheep aren't dumb, and goats get 'de-budded' and the mammary track is worth 37% of the judging. The 4-H kids were just dying to answer questions - want to know the gestation period of a pig?

And there was food. I'd say that over 50% of our state fair is food booths. Corn on the cob, barbecue pork sandwiches, shaved ice, cinnamon-sugar elephant ears (my personal favorite,) kettle corn, ice cream in all its permutations... you name it - there was a booth for it.

There were quilts; beautiful, colorful, wonderful quilts. And beading, crochet, dress-making, flower arranging, jam and jelly preserving and cake decorating examples. There were ribbons awarded for all of these, along with best photo of an insect, largest pumpkin, most creative scarecrow, and most elaborate Grange display of crops just, obviously, to name a few.

A veritable feast for the eyes. And the tummy.

We came home exhausted and had to have naps. I'll probably have to post some more pictures tomorrow.