Thursday, August 13, 2009

SKAGIT COUNTY FAIR

Give me a hawker, a couple of pitchman, outrageous junk food, a horse with blue eyes, a black and white Holstein cow, people with silly hats, grandma and grandpa and a bunch of kids having fun, ahh, that's it. A gathering of people having fun. A fair is different things to different people.
Small country fairs are my favorites. They have all the usual elements, the smell of excited animals mixed with onions and fries cooking non-stop. Cotton candy and barbeque smells fill the air. Exhibits of fine work, photography, crafts, vegetables and canned goods, cookies and cakes all lovingly prepared.
From personal experience I know the work the kids put into their animals, sanding and painting their hooves, washing and grooming them, shaving tails and primping manes.
Then, the sounds of the fair from cowbells, the pitchmen, the grinding rides whooshing through the air, kids squealing in terror and delight; a bawling calf, and a recalcitrant mewling ewe. I like it all.


The little girl above couldn't have weighed 57 pounds yet she was busily loading horse stalls with clean sawdust. I took four more pictures of her in action. They are on my link along with a bunch of others: http://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/SkagitCoFair#



The Moonraker was chopping clouds and smashing screaming kids against a wall of gravity, much to their delight.


These young friends took a break, one using a convenient warm seat unlike any other.

People will buy silly stuff they have no real use for just because its fair time. What the heck?

In the old days, the carnival had a freak show. This handsome dude looked wary through his beautiful blue eyes. Not a freak, just an albino.
This was the first day of the fair. A rodeo is scheduled and many other events over the next few days. This fair had an Elvis Impersonator. This is 2009, what would we do without an Elvis Impersonator?
Yes, fairs are different things to different people, be it grandpa savoring an old tractor or a little girl peeking through the fence, but always fun. Check my link above for more photos.

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