It was a fantastic First Day of the Fair. And for the first time in several years, not only was it MY first day of the Fair; it was THE first day of the Fair. The First Day is pretty special around here. A local Target-like chain hosts a free pancake breakfast and free entry to anyone who stops by one of their stores for a special pass. The only hitch is you have to arrive before 11:00am for all the freeness. Easy enough, right? Hmmm.
Rob managed to escape a bit of my Fair Food Frenzy this year by skipping town for a few days. So today I enjoyed the Fair with a good friend, Bonnie. Bonnie has lived 5 miles from the Fairgrounds for the past 15 years and (up until today) had never been to the Fair. Naturally, this horrified me. So she took the day off from work so I could introduce her to all that she has been missing. Her assessment at the end of the day: two sticky, greasy thumbs up!
Agreeing that we can get pancakes any ol’ time, Bonnie and I planned to skip the free breakfast and instead head straight to lunch after our arrival shortly before the 11:00am deadline. I was right on schedule leaving the house at 10:00am to pick her up. But then I got delayed by about 20 minutes (three dogs abandoned on the side of the road = long story). I called Bonnie in a tizzy along the way. I eventually got to her house, slowed down long enough for her to jump into the passenger seat, and we zipped hurriedly towards the Fairgrounds.
We took some accidentally brilliant detours, effectively avoiding hugely long traffic lines of similarly minded cheapskates, and managed to get into the Fairgrounds parking lot with about 8 minutes to spare. As I rushed out of the car, I asked Bonnie, “Can you trot?” She looked at me with some amusement and surprise (me and my back are not much for trotting) and said, “Sure. I wore good trotting shoes today.” And so we trotted through the grassy parking lot to the main entrance…along with a number of other tightwads holding free passes that were about to expire. It was actually quite an amusing sight. Someone should have been filming it; it would make for an awesome commercial for both the Fair and the local store.
Another couple lucky breaks and we were inside the gate at 10:58am. Phew!! As I was celebrating our great luck, Bonnie looked perplexed. “What’s so special about 11:00am?” she asked innocently. Turns out she had completely missed the part about the deadline. The panicked phone call? The quick jump into the passenger seat? The fast driving? The trotting? “Oh, I just thought you were excited to get to the Fair.” She had a point.
A brief recap of our day:
Food she is a changin’ There have been some changes to the food vendors this year. We spent the first half hour or so getting a sense of things. Onionaire Burgers are gone. Seafood and Philly Cheesesteaks are new. Deep fried fun booth has changed locations and expanded its offerings (!!). The place offering the deep fried raspberry cheesecake cannoli returned but the delectable dessert was not on the menu. I asked a woman behind the counter about it. She said there had been quite an internal debate about offering it again but it hadn’t been very popular last year so they decided not to bring it back. Apparently the look on my face was some mix of grief, shock, and craving because by Monday she will either have them back on the menu or at least will have two set aside for when Bonnie joins us for the bull riding Monday night. Man, I love a small town fair!!!
Food she is a spewin’ Maybe it was because it was The First Day. Maybe it was because the pancakes were free. Maybe I’ve just been lucky all these years. Whatever the reason, I witnessed not one but two occasions of Too Much Fair Too Fast, both from boys in the 10-13 age range. I also learned that it takes four Fair employees to deal with such occasions; three to form a protective barrier and one to don latex gloves and treat the scene as biohazard. As icky as it was, it was a well-placed reminder to pace myself.
Chickens going postal We got great seats on the grass outside the poultry barn for the 4-H Chicken Dress-Up Contest. I honestly thought it would come down to the Rapunzel Chicken (complete with awaiting Prince Chicken) versus the USPS Chicken (“United States Poultry Service”). Instead, first place went to a turkey dressed up as a pilgrim because the judge “just loved the irony.”
Wind up my shorts New this year is a glass phone booth of sorts providing seconds of entertainment. The gig is that you pay $5 supporting a different charity each day and in return you get 30 seconds in this booth with air-blown coupons swirling all around you. You get to keep what you catch. But there are several catches: one hand behind your back; no bending or reaching below the waist, and no stuffing of pockets or shirts. I won a number of vouchers for this “Catch-a-Coupon Booth” in The Contest so Bonnie and I each had a go. She didn’t keep any of her coupons. I, on the other hand, can now get a free appetizer at Applebee’s, $5 off at a local coffee shop, two free keys made at a local hardware store, a free eye exam at the mall, a free drink with a sandwich at a café in Portland, and a free session of some sort of hypnosis thing to help me lose weight. I was going to toss that last one but I’m thinking I might see what the next week and a half brings first.
I need to pace the water consumption Somewhere between the super nachos and the elephant ear, I remembered I need to remember to drink water. So off to the Burger Buggy I went to acquire my $2 liter of bottled water (thank you, notes to myself!). I drank about half of it before we meandered back to the car. The rest was finished on the 20 minute drive home. This blog entry has had quite a few interruptions.
New Favorite Event! We had no idea what it was (and the Information Booth had no idea where it was), but Bonnie and I were both intrigued by an entry on Daily Schedule. Curious and ready to sit a spell, we finally found the “4-H Style Show/Consumer Selection/Fashion Revue” hidden behind the milkshake barn. What a gem!! It turned out to be a fashion show of 4-H’ers who were modeling outfits they had sewn themselves (“Style Show”) OR had purchased with an eye on versatility and budget (“Consumer Selection”). They were judged on the clothing as well as the presentation. In other words, how well they modeled. The clothing was nothing short of jaw-dropping. These kids (all girls and one boy), aged 5-15, made blouses, dresses, skirts, shorts, and pajama pants (the boy). One girl even made herself a pair of jeans! Each contestant had written up a little blurb about their outfit, what they learned while making/buying it, and some personal information about their hobbies and interests outside of sewing. While the blurbs were read by an emcee, each sewer did their best turn on the cat walk. Some were visibly nervous, some were awkward, some were twirling, some were strutting with hip thrusts, one blew kisses. It was adorable and impressive and sweet and funny. Absolutely one of my Must-See’s from now on.
And now…The Food Parade!! I must say, I was impressed by Bonnie’s desire and ability to dive in with me. She’s planning at least a couple more Fair visits over the next week, so we were both pleased with our sane start with good pacing.
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| Freshly made corn dog from the Lions booth. Mmmm, mustard. |
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| The person behind me in line told me to try BBQ sauce on my corn. It was pretty tasty but I decided I prefer it drenched in butter and salt. |
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| A Funky Monkey kabob! Chocolate-covered strawberries and bananas on a stick. At one point I was licking chocolate off my wrist. |
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| Getting a little thirsty. An Arnold Palmer since I really don't like undoctored iced tea. It was a nice blend from the new "sorta healthy" booth. |
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| Nachos with the works! The booth didn't have jalapenos so I stole them from another vendor. Shhh! |
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| My first elephant ear of the season -- fried to perfection! Butter, sugar, cinnamon on fried dough ~ what's not to love?? |
3 comments:
We went yesterday afternoon also. And then onto the Beach Boys. OMG. I was a raving teenager again. As with many other over 50 in the crowd. Men and women. Anyway miss the clam strips at BO's(I know you don't do fish but maybe Rob) Just lacking in flavor. We also shared corn on the cob and only with butter salt and pepper. I didn't get a stamp to get back into the fair after the concert. REGRET. I could have gone back for a elephant ear. We also caught part of the cat costume competition. Think clown costume and a cat face looking miserable. To our surprise some people we knew where the MC and one of the judges. They don't own cats nor do they care much for them. HAHAHA Love to ya and take care at the fair.
Looks like you had a great day!
I love your description of the cat costume contest, Pam! I will absolutely have to add that to my "Must See" list next year.
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