Fair Time Back "Home"

It's that time of year again back home, time for the county fairs and the big state fair.  And yes, even after not living in Ohio since we married in 1967, we still think of it as home.  My sister-in-law mentioned they were getting ready to go to the Wooster County Fair.  She later emailed saying they bought fresh made donuts! Yum!

We've been to fairs in other places that we've lived.  Some were better than others.  Some have been glorified carnivals and not at all what we grew up with.  The state fair in Colorado was a good one.  The smells of the food alone were worth the admission price - peppers, onions, good spicy Mexican food!

When I think of a fair, I think of crafts, animals, baking, canning, sewing and ribbons handed out by the judges.  Golfer and I were active in Grange.  First in Juvenile Grange and then with the adults.  Every year there were projects, and contests and judging to decide who would enter their items in the County Fair.  I remember one year the sewing project was making a housecoat.  Another time I baked molasses cookies.  And one funny entry (at least to me) was the year we had to take a Mrs. Butterworth's glass syrup bottle and sew an outfit for it.  I don't remember winning any ribbons, but it was fun.

Golfer played trombone in the marching band and at the county fair all the schools sent their bands to perform.  It was exciting to see all the uniforms and find out what music each school was working on.

I liked seeing all the animals.  The proud owners were washing, brushing and calming them.  The 4-H kids worked hard. Talking about the animals reminds me of another thing... when Golfer and I had only been dating for a while, his Dad took me along to a pig auction with them.  Keep in mind now, I lived in town.  I liked animals, but my experience with them was pretty much limited to our cat, Louie.  So there we were at the auction.  The pigs and hogs were in pens and you walked around and looked at them to decide which you wanted to bid on when the auction started. We were looking, and all of a sudden there was a rush of really big pigs running down the path.  Dad yelled, get up on the fence and get out of the way!  And that's pretty much all I remember about that auction!

Back to the fair - I also liked looking at all the canned goods.  I never got into canning, except for helping Mom and Grama clean fruits and vegetables while they were "putting up" the foods.  Grama had a small room in her basement with shelves lining the walls.  It was cool and dark down there and that's where all the canned goods and jellies were kept until they were needed.

So. Fall.  Memories of hay bales, pumpkins, gourds, and nature.  Happy times.

Stay safe!