The County Fair
 

The La Crosse county fair is this weekend. Anyone else on here go to their local county fair?
The food is awesome. We usually skip the Fair food and eat at the 4H building. Traditional hamburgers, hot dogs, beef sandwiches, that sort of stuff. Then there's the dairy bar. Got to get some fresh ice cream.

We watched the 4H mounted drill team. They are really impressive with the way they handle their horses. Walked through the horse barn. Walked through the cow barn. Walked through the goat barn. Skipped the swine barn.

We also checked out the dog agility competition. Not quite up to what you see on TV, but those kids really work hard training their dogs.

Big plus - my stepdaughter and granddaughter are in town, and we got to take the granddaughter to her first fair. I think it was a little overwhelming for her. She's only 2 1/2, and she's too short for any of the rides, although her mama took her on the train ride. When she gets a little older I think she'll appreciate it more.

We went to a county fair about 18 years ago. The people in attendance met my expectations and we’ve never been back.

Ahhhh fried dough and steamed clams and vomiting. Haven’t been to the local carnival since i was a kid, probably 1985 and remember my friend Eric throwing up in my moms car on the way home…..good times.

Our county fair is the first full week of August.
The most popular event each year is the 'Farm Olympics Night'

I remember going when I was a kid in early/mid 70s near Clearwater, Florida. I then went a couple of times when I was 12-13 in Pensacola, FL. I remember the food and the rides and games. I haven't been to a fair since.

Tractor pulls and demolition derbies. And showing dairy cows... Fun stuff. That said, I havent been to one in a very long time.

I haven't been since the 70s, even when we supply entertainment, I avoid it.

Went to octoberfest there. Was a bit too weird for me tbh.

Northern states freak me out.

I've lived in both. Not that different. Texas local fairs do pay better than those in NY... Probably proximity to major cities. AKA oil $$

When I was a kid the Greene County Fair was the next best thing to Christmas. I took my Holstein heifer, Julie, to the fair when I was 10 and won best in class with her. I also won the dairy cow judging contest, and won the wagon and trailer backing contest. Backing a four wheel wagon is HARD (so hard that my dad put a hitch on the front of our John Deere to back the wagons with on the farm).
Kids who were showing cattle had to stay with them over night for the week, and this was the first unsupervised overnight experience I ever had. For a shy kid who didn't get off the farm much, it was a great experience. It was educational as well as character building.
All the machinery dealers would bring big displays of the latest tractors and combines. I was a gearhead even then, so I spent a lot of time studying them.
The town people went to the other, non-ag side of the fair to ride the rides and eat carnival food. To us they all looked out of place, like they didn't understand the reason for the fair.

I went to the same fair with my grandsons about 10 years ago. The rides and food area was the usual, but the cattle, hog, and petite ruminants barns were almost empty. It was sad to see that the fair had declined so much.

We go to the Darke County Fair every year. Been going since I was a kid. It is still very much a Country County Fair.
I remember the first time I took my wife, (she was a city girl) she was shocked. Thought that this only happened in a Brady Bunch episode! The pie / cake judging, the fruits and vegetables displays / judging.

Used to be a big event in my family's life growing up.. We were all Scouts, 4-Hrs' growing up. County and State Fairs.

I haven't been to either variety since my girls were wee little tykes. Took them once and decided then that I was done with it. Been over 20 years now and I don't miss it.

You've probably seen or met my wife, and her two kids. Through the years the kids were in high school she was the go-to person to round up high school sports teams, boy scouts, etc to direct traffic in the fairgrounds parking lots. She was out there in the parking lot all day every day of fair week managing the kids. So, she was a Lot Lizard - of sorts. :D

That's the reason our county fair has resorted to events like the 'Farm Olympics' and the 'demolition derby'.
They seem to be holding their own...just a different crowd now.

The MN State fair used to have an area called Machinery Hill filled with huge farm implements. They might still call it Machinery Hill, but it is almost completely small tractors etc. that homeowners and maybe gentleman farmers would use, none of the massive combines and other real farm stuff. Big shame- kids and once kids love looking at those things.

I just checked and my County’s Fair has been cancelled this year again- 4 years in a row, several from COVID and I guess the last two are financial and regulatory problems. It was pretty small, but only 1 mile from my house.

Interesting thing was all the “carnie” type jobs were held by clean looking young adults- I asked them one year and it turns out they were from South Africa and a company got them Visas to travel the US each summer to work the fairs. They seemed happy and were very friendly.

The MN State Fair is huge and only 9 miles from my house and there is a bike friendly way to get there and a monitored bicycle parking area right by the entry.

I went to the county fair in Texas every year I lived there. They know how to do it right. State fair in California is consistently disappointing

Tillamook County fair has Pig and Ford races. With, pigs and model T roadsters. Very cool.

Oregon State Fair has the dairy princesses serving the best milkshakes on Earth.

After that, things sort of decline in attraction. There is that particular smell though.

We have this little county fair… lasts 10 days and is known as The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. It wrapped up last weekend.

The Calgary Stampede…

Woman at the local farmers market was selling Kambucha popsicles.

I thought I’d seen the worst the new millennia had. Im done.