Rob is my unsung partner in this craziness every year. He carries my stuff, hands me money when I run out, takes my picture over and over and over again, stays up with me into the wee hours to keep me company while I'm writing, doesn't let me eat alone, and this year even let me drag him into the Milkshake Barn and the Llama Show Ring. I love Rob with everything that I am but during the Fair especially so.
See, I told you. Emotional.
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| Please note the little graffiti heart above my head. Awww! |
We spent our last day well. I made the food rounds and ate the few things still on my list. We stopped and chatted with friends, one of which told us her son had won the very prestigious Round Robin Showmanship event (it's where 4-H kids have to go around the Fairgrounds and get judged showing a variety of animals; our friend's son typically only shows goats). Knowing Kyle well enough, I asked his mom if he finally smiled with the big win. Predictably, the answer was no. Oh, teenage boys.
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| Here is the 2014 Clark County Fair Grand and Master Grand Showman...still not smiling. It's OK, Kyle. I'm smiling big for you! |
We also watched Jerry Harris's very last hypnosis show. We helped our friend Shannon get called up on stage (we have gone to enough shows, we know what works). We were all super excited! But unfortunately, Shannon didn't quite get relaxed enough and came back to her seat early. Next year, Shannon! My new camera will be ready!
The rest of the day was dedicated to watching the tryouts for the 2015 Riverview Community Bank Clark County Equestrian Fair Court...henceforth to be referred to simply as "the Fair Court."
We stumbled upon this annual event a few years ago when a contestant happened to sit next to us at lunch. A chit chatty conversation prompted us to watch the speech portion and now, three years later, we are sort of Fair Court stalkers.
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| 2014 Fair Court. You did a great job ladies! |
The Schedule
The Fair Court tryouts are pretty involved and the young women work really hard, especially on the last day of the Fair. Their day starts at 9:00am with a breakfast with the reigning Queen. Then come personal interviews with the judges. Then a written test about the Fair and Fair Court.
The public finally gets to take a peek in the afternoon as each of the contestants gets on stage for some public speaking and modeling. The competition then finishes up with what is pretty certainly the girls' favorite event -- horsemanship. That means the girls get to wear jeans and get on their horses and ride around fast and carry flags and wave and such. The evening culminates with the crowning of the new Fair Court Queen and two Princesses.
The Contestants
This year there were six young women trying out for the three spots on the Fair Court. Before the speech competition began, Rob and I explored the horse barns and came across a poster with head shots of all six contestants. Studying them closely and searching for subtle clues in the photos, Rob and I each made our Queen prediction. I predicted Missy would win. Rob chose Tessa.
After the speeches were done, Rob and I agreed that we had predicted amazingly well. We know how to judge a book by a cover!
Both Missy and Tessa were stand-outs in the speeches, with Brooke also making a strong impression. The three of them -- Missy, Tessa, and Brooke -- ended up being our three picks for the Court going into the Horsemanship portion. And because we have been Fair Court Groupies/Stalkers for three years now, we know what we are talking about.
Tessa really stood out. She was very poised onstage. She walked gracefully, spoke clearly, and was fun with her answers to some impromptu questions. When asked for the first word to come to mind when hearing the word "Illinois," she said "Lots of l's." When asked about "paparazzi" she answered "attention" and then flipped her hair playfully. I was really impressed by how confident Tessa was onstage. She was the first one out of the gate and was going to be hard to beat.
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| Tessa |
The first thing I noticed about Missy was that she has fantastic hair. That's not an insignificant quality when you are talking about royalty on horses.
Like Tessa, Missy also had great stage presence and showed enviable confidence and maturity. She inadvertently made me giggle when she spoke about the new ToyTopia exhibit being exclusively for kids. I don't want to tell you how many quarters or minutes I spent in that exhibit playing Space Invaders and Pac-Man.
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| Missy |
Brooke was the contestant I wanted to invite to a BBQ. She was just a hoot! She wasn't quite as poised as Tessa and Missy but she had an easy naturalness that made me want to hang out and laugh with her. She gave an hysterical word-association answer. When asked about "Mayflower" she said "Holland." Umm, maybe she was thinking about flowers in May? But tulips bloom more in March, so that can't be it. To her credit, Brooke almost immediately recognized her non sequitur and instead of getting flustered, she just laughed at herself and made me like her even more. So much so that when she totally mangled "Creedence Clearwater Revival/Revisited" because the band was "before her time," I found it endearing instead of a stab in my middle-aged heart.
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| Brooke |
The other three contestants did a great job, too. I felt sorry for Maddii when she was given the word association of "Watergate." Naturally, my first thought was "Dustin Hoffman." But since Maddii didn't know the national political scandal of her parents' youth...or the Oscar-nominated movie chronicling it...she responded with "fun."
I'm going to guess Maddii thought "watergate" was something attached to a waterslide. I can't really blame her.
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| Maddii (I know how to spell it because we went to the Horse Barn) |
I liked Karissa because she gave a shout out to the Food Court in one of her answers. Similarly applause-worthy, her word-association answer to "Maryland" was "burritos." I have no idea how those two go together but I am going to guess there is a good story there. Or Karissa was hungry. Either way, she was fun.
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| Karissa |
The last contestant, McKenzie, was comfy in her cowboy boots. Even though I couldn't see her boots under her long, fancy rodeo skirt, McKenzie had a cowgirl ease and swagger as she walked. She took her time with answers and was direct and to the point. While not quite as bubbly as the other contestants, McKenzie had a quiet, thoughtful strength to her that stood out.
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| McKenzie |
For the speech and modeling contests, the contestants had obviously been given some pointers about moving around the stage and what to do with their hands while speaking to avoid looking totally awkward (I could use some of those pointers). It seemed they had also been shown some modeling moves and tips on striking poses. A few of the girls were much more natural at this girly shmirly stuff than the others. Once we got to the horse arena, though, it was quickly apparent that every one of the girls was more at home on her horse than on a stage.
Finally on the horses
The Horsemanship part of the competition was to simulate what the Fair Court encounters in their royal duties. Contestants had to casually ride their horse past a parade spectator with an umbrella and another one with a set of balloons. They had to run through some figure 8s, make their horse go forwards and backwards on command, carry a flag like in a rodeo, and...my favorite part...ride around the arena really fast while doing that turbo speed hand wavy thing.
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| Most of the horses seemed to love a parade. |
As we watched each Contestant ride through the pattern, I realized I judge Horsemanship the same way I judge Chinese restaurants. If a Chinese restaurant doesn't have good pot stickers, nothing else really matters. Similarly, if that hand wavy thing falls short, that Fair Court contestant gets a shrug from me.
Now, I'm a tough judge because we were sitting at the far end of the bleachers and a number of the girls sort of petered out on the hand-waving by the time they got to us. I tried not to take it personally but I won't lie -- I was a little hurt, especially since I was waving back.
So let me tell you, my Missy had the very best hand wavy thing of all of them. She smiled a ton and kept the warp speed going all the way around the arena. In my vast experience in judging Horsemanship, I can tell you confidently that THAT is why she is our new Queen. Ok, yeah, Missy also looked really confident on her horse, controlled him well, and got some good speed going. Blah blah blah. But really, it was the hand waving. Trust me.
I'm just trying to help
One thing I would love to suggest to the Fair Court Judge People -- again, because of my extensive years of experience with horsies and stuff -- is I think there should be another simulation test added to the Horsemanship competition.
During the Rodeo and Bull Riding events earlier in the Fair, the 2014 Fair Court energized the crowd by throwing free t-shirts into the Grandstands. However, their throws were sort of pathetic (sorry ladies; but I'm right, no?). A number of the shirts didn't even make it to the first row of seats! Now really, how hard can it be to throw a t-shirt 50 feet while riding a horse one-handed? I mean, it looks really easy in my head. And the horsies make you taller so that should make it even easier, right?
The 2015 Fair Court is....
Finally sometime after 7:00pm...after 31 gifts were handed out (Rob counted as he noted, "There are lots of gifts because they are girls")...the winners were announced.
Eight awards were handed out first, for things like Appearance, Congeniality, Speech, Horsemanship, and being Photogenic. Each award came with a little gift bag...because they are girls. As the bags started to accumulate at the feet of one contestant it became pretty clear who our 2015 Queen would be.
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| Tessa, Missy, and Brooke! |
Yep, it is Missy! My pick from the beginning! See, I told you. I know my fluffy hair, horsies, and hand wavy thing.
Our two Princesses are Tessa and Brooke!! Are Rob and I good or what?
And then this happened
One of the interesting things about hanging in the general vicinity of the Fair Court folks most of a day is you start to feel like you know them. Even though you've never actually met them.
The speeches and word-association and time on stage gave us glimpses into the contestants' personalities. Seeing them on their horses in the arena gave us peeks into their passion. Rob and I both developed favorites and were rooting hard when the winners were announced.
Rob and I cheered and high-fived as if we had something to do with the crowning achievements. I got wistful and sentimental as the 2014 Fair Court said their good-byes. I almost cried when Matt the Marketing Guy started crying while thanking the 2014 ladies.
I was all in.
So after all the flowers and tears and photo-ops had settled down with the new royalty, I decided I wanted to get a picture with them. We saw Queen Missy and Princess Tessa waiting for Princess Brooke so they could head to a meeting (yes, they apparently jump right in hooves first with this gig!). So Rob and I moseyed over to find out if the trio would be on the Fairgrounds until closing so I could get my picture.
Unfortunately, when introducing myself, I'm pretty sure I freaked out the new Queen.
In the midst of telling Missy that we had been watching all day and had been rooting for her and thought she had done a great job, she asked if we were the "mystery judges." Although an intriguing concept, I told her no, we weren't. But then I added, "But even if I were, I probably couldn't tell you, right?" Her wide eyes following my logic, I realized I had gone a little too far.
But wait, it gets worse.
Forgetting that Missy doesn't know me or my humor...at all...I made the mistake of joking that I am something of a Fair Court Stalker.
VERY wide eyes again.
I tried to backtrack and explain and redirect, but the damage had been done.
Great, the poor girl is Fair Court Queen for less than 15 minutes and I have already put the fear of restraining orders in her heart. Go me. I may never get that group photo after all.
The End...almost
And so that's that. The Fair is over. 2014 is out and 2015 is just getting started. It all happened so fast.
I will be posting one more recap blog soon. I need some sleep and a heating pad first. I will also be revealing my weight gain. Because you gotta believe I've got something besides more swag and sore feet to show for all this fun. So stay tuned.
Final Stat Report
We did a lot of sitting today so I was pleased I still logged 3.57 miles on my pedometer.
Today's re-entry stamp...which I am currently admiring on my left hand...was a duck.
No Flavor of the Day at the Milkshake Barn, but the line was still at least 30 minutes long at 8:45pm.
Rob shared his Diet Cokes with "Jackie" and "Brandon." I shared my Coke with "JR."
Final Fair Food Feast Parade
I am always blown away how my body seems to know the fun is coming to an end. This happens every year on the last day and I can't explain it. But believe it or not, tonight as I walked past an elephant ear, my first thought was, "Wow, that's way too sweet. Besides, I'm not hungry." Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I am already turning back into my non-Fair self. And it is indeed not fair. Boo!
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| Not enough sleep calls for caffeine and sugar. And with a great name on the bottle! Hi, JR! |
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| My Finale Corn. So buttery! |
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| Another hot dog from Dogville. It was the Mexican Dog with cheese sauce, salsa, sour cream, and jalapenos. I got it because I never ever allow myself to eat stuff like that in the off-season. It was very tasty, but I liked the Chicago and North Carolina Dogs better. |
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| Cinnamon and Pineapple Hawaiian Shaved Ice. LOVE this combo! And those are my favorite Syrupers in the background. |
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| For my Good-Bye Milkshake, I tried a new combo: chocolate shake with strawberries and cookies 'n cream mixed in. It was very good, but I think I prefer Chocolate Cherry and Strawberry Cookies 'n Cream as separate shakes. Sometimes less is more, even at the Fair. |
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| Mixed Berry pie from the Church Ladies Pie Booth. Always a delicious treat. And worth the wait. |
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| Naughty Nachos from Sweet Al's truck. No really, that's their name. I only ate about 80% of it. Then the Jekyll/Hyde thing started setting in. They were good -- I especially liked the chicken. If they are back next year, I think I will skip the Nachos and just get something with their tasty Teriyaki chicken. |
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