Fair 2016 – Day 10

I’m sort of stunned that it’s all over.

In one way it seems like months ago that I was opening my Fair Drawer and packing my Fair Swag Bag with Tums and sunscreen and pain meds. But in most other ways, it seems like my favorite 10-day holiday just got here and can’t possibly be over already.

Today was an absolutely wonderful day. It started a bit early and ended late and was packed with so many reasons to smile that my cheeks actually hurt a little (the other ones, too – turns out my self-inflating seat cushion has a small leak so I will be acquiring a new one in the off-season for all my Grandstand needs). I also found myself on the verge of tears a few times, but every time was out of joy and gratitude for 10 days of utter delight and fun.

In the next few days, after some sleep and figuring out what life happened while I was on Faircation, I will be posting one last Fair blog. A recap with some reflections and behind-the-scenes sort of stuff. So stay tuned for that.

But first…because I can’t bear the secret any longer, THIS HAPPENED:

She also got a very prestigious award for showing
kindness, encouragement, diligence, and
confidence during the competition. No surprise there.

Maddie won, Maddie won, Maddie won!!

Yes, my most favorite Fair Court Contestant EVER secured a spot on the 2017 Fair Court! She is officially a Princess!! OMG OMG OMG!!!! I am just beaming!!!

Could our smiles be any bigger?

The logistics
Three girls were chosen today as Princesses. Over the next six months, they will get some training and participate in some holiday parades and get a little exposure and practice for The Big Stuff that kicks into gear next June. During those six months, the girls will be carefully observed. In February there will be a Coronation and the Queen of the Fair Court will be announced. I don’t have to tell you that I WILL BE THERE!

Today’s publicly viewable competition started at 11:00am with speeches, modeling, Q&A, and a fun word-association game to see how the girls think on their feet.

The contestants then took a few hours’ break to change clothes and get their horses ready. The final event was a horse competition in which they rode around an arena simulating parade and public event activities they would encounter as a Princess. Things like calmly walking their horse past people with balloons or umbrellas, making their horse back up and stop, dismounting and remounting, carrying a flag, and my favorite – riding around the arena really fast while doing that warp speed rodeo hand wave thing while also making sure their hat doesn’t fall off.

Laura, Emily, and Maddie

Setting the stage
I arrived at the Blue Gate just minutes before the Fair officially opened at 10:00am. The Fair was just waking up; it was so quiet and peaceful. Vendors were arriving, employees were having breakfast, booths were getting set up, no pan flute music was playing.

I was by myself because Rob had some duties at church; he joined me later. I should mention that it was a pretty big deal for me to skip church today. I only miss it when we are traveling or if I am sick. Despite my love of the Fair, some things do come first.

But today was extra super duper special. I am sure God understands. Besides, without planning it, a number of folks from our church skipped service this morning to support Maddie. We sort of had our own mini-congregation under the Jest in Time Circus Tent. So it was almost like being at church, except with milkshakes and corn dogs and cameras. Can I get a hallelujah?

Maddie definitely had the biggest – or at least loudest – cheering section. We were quite enthusiastic. So much for Quakers being stereotypically quiet.

Maddie was Contestant #4…out of what became four instead of five contestants. On Wednesday the contestant list included a current Princess; she was competing again to see if she could continue a second year. But for some reason – trust me, I really don’t know – she withdrew from the competition a few days ago. She was there today, though, as a current Princess and doing a great job at it.

In all honesty, I was relieved to learn Shaylee withdrew her name even though I was certain she would earn a spot on the Court again.

On Wednesday, as I watched/stalked Maddie and the other contestants, I noticed that sometimes Shaylee had to be a contestant and other times she had to be a current Princess. It looked exhausting.

But more than that, I wondered if it would be disappointing and difficult not to be able to fully participate with your Princess sisters in the final days and duties of your reign because you were busy trying to make it all happen again. I feared Shaylee might be missing out on some of the best parts of the Fair Court experience by competing a second time.

So for whatever reason Shaylee decided to remove her Contestant #5 sash, for her sake I am glad she did it so that she could fully and completely soak in every last bit of being a 2016 Fair Court Princess.

They were a great Fair Court!

The Speeches
All four girls did a fine job being up on stage for 15-20 minutes each. I certainly wouldn’t be able to do it and maintain such composure and unwobbly knees. Especially in cowboy boots.

Anna – Contestant #1 – has a background in theater so she is presumably very comfortable on stage and in front of people. And for the most part, she was today. She did a great job with her bio and her memorized speech…until she had a little brain fart and blanked out. Man, I hate when that happens. At 48, it seems to be happening with more frequency. Gah.

Anna rallied as best she could but she never completely recovered. I felt bad for her. I did admire how she deftly worked in the various sponsor names in the word association game. And she was very endearing and made me laugh when she went off-script and referred to herself as being “derpy.” I plan to incorporate that word into my vocabulary.

Emily was Contestant #2. She immediately had my attention when she shared that her favorite thing about parades is the candy that is thrown to the kids. That’s my favorite thing, too. I often come home with quite a stash. I suspect she was being more of a grown-up, though, and was referring to be the thrower.

I also liked that Emily’s speech shared a personal story from her childhood and she allowed herself to be a little vulnerable in telling it. That took guts and poise and she had both.

Contestant #3 was wearing my favorite colored shirt (lime green) so I liked Laura right away. She was bouncy as she modeled her fabulous shirt and skirt across the stage so I thought she might be a bouncy sort of person. Instead she surprised me by being very linear and somewhat reserved.

She was very prepared but wasn’t particularly spontaneous. She didn’t seem as comfortable as some of the other contestants with the Q&A and word association games. I really appreciated that she talked about being on her school’s robotics team and math being her favorite subject. She was multi-dimensional. I liked that.

And then there was Maddie. Trying very hard to be objective, I noticed she was excited but nervous. She flipped her curly hair a bit – mostly because her hair is rarely not in a ponytail and is never curly. She also absentmindedly played with the tail of her contestant sash because, well, as long as I’ve known her she’s never worn one of those, even to church. So those two things were a little distracting.

BUT Maddie was by far the most natural and authentically herself on stage. She had everyone laughing with her candid answers to the Q&A (she apologized that her least favorite movie is “The Notebook” because she really doesn’t go for all that lovey dovey stuff) and word association (the first word that came to her mind when told “food court” was “AWESOME!” – now you know why I adore Maddie so).

Maddie also was totally unfazed when the music paused awkwardly during her modeling and later when some papers blew around on stage during her speech. She just smiled and kept going like a true pro.

See the papers on the stage?  I think they
belonged to the Marketing Director

The Horsey Show
I know nothing about horses or how to ride them and make them do stuff. So I watch the horse competition purely as your average clueless Fair-goer. I look at the bouncy hair and the pretty horse and the warp speed rodeo wave. These are important to me.

Overall, I thought #3 (Laura) and #4 (Maddie) did the best jobs with their horses. Their horses largely did what the girls wanted them to do and were totally unfazed by the parade simulation. Both girls did great carrying a large flag around the arena and both waved really fast with their hand in front of them as they whizzed past us.

The other contestants struggled a bit with their horses or remembering the pattern they were supposed to ride. I noticed one was sort of slouchy when she was carrying the flag. I have no idea if posture is important for flag carrying but since I cluelessly noticed it, I’m guessing it might be.

I also noticed that one girl did her warp speed hand wavy thing with her hand more out to her side instead of in front of her. Again, that might not be important since I have no idea what I’m talking about but it was something that I wrote down in my little notebook. Yes I take notes. I look more official that way.


The Results
After flowers were bestowed and thank yous were gushed and tears were choked back for the Fair Court that was ending its reign tonight, it was time to find out who our three new Princess are.

Even though I was completely certain that Maddie’s name would be called, I still screamed and shouted and cheered and smiled almost as big as she did when it was confirmed.

That smile!

I truly couldn’t be more excited or proud of her. As the Fine Fair Folks will soon find out, Maddie is fun and goofy and bubbly while at the same time totally unflappable and very discerning and responsible and intentional. Maddie is aware of situations around her and knows how to present herself accordingly.

I have no doubt that come February, Maddie will be our new Fair Court Queen. And honestly, I would be saying that just based on what I saw today. The fact that I know how much more there is behind the fluffy hair, megawatt smile, and stunning white leather dress makes the inevitable that much more obvious.

And yes, I have already made it abundantly clear to Maddie’s mom that I am utterly and eagerly available to fill in as Second Mom if her busy schedule needs some reinforcements. I am at the ready to help out with anything not involving a horse. I’m yearning to learn how to curl hair and am willing to drive to events at wee hours. Yes, unabashedly to get a sneak peek into the Fair Court Princess World. But even more to support and love and cheer on a very special young woman that I am proud to know and call Princess.



Saying good-bye
Beyond the Fair Court competition, today was a heart-and-tummy filling day of just wandering around, chatting with friends, hanging out with the llamas, watching bits and pieces of favorite shows, riding the Ferris wheel one last time, and mostly just saying good-bye to my most favorite time of the year. That dang lump in my throat almost got in my way of eating. Almost.

I also said good-bye to a few friends.

As we left the Fairgrounds for the last time, we stop and chatted with John. He mans the Mt. Hood Territory Tourism booth. We met him a few years ago when somehow we started comparing notes about fairs and fair food. A day at the Fair now is not complete if we haven’t waved to or chatted a bit with John. This year we learned that his most favorite song EVER is “The Sound of Silence” — but only if it is played on the pan flute. Repeatedly. For 10 days straight. Ideally from a neighboring booth.

I also am now officially following “Washington Smashers” on Facebook so I can figure out how to get my fruit beverage fix during the off-season. I so enjoyed getting a chance to meet Stan the Smashers Man this year. I am also very touched by his sincere well-wishes for my continued knee recovery. Hope to see you again soon, Stan!

My final treat of the final day of the Fair was my beloved deep fried Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup from the Deep Fried Heaven Truck (officially called Sweet Cheeks). I hadn’t had one yet; it was time.

As we waited for my delectable, we waved and smiled at Eric inside the truck. He is so sweet and always makes us feel like deep fried friends.

I asked the cashier if the truck happened to sell t-shirts like the ones the employees were wearing. Because it is the perfect shirt to wear to the gym as soon as I’m cleared to return there.

The cashier was pretty sure the shirts weren’t for sale but confirmed it with the owner. Jackie came out of the truck and we started chatting. We had not met before but it wasn’t long before she understood that I am something of a Super Fan of both her products and the Fair. She said shirts might be for sale next year. Then she looked at me for a long pause and asked, “How much longer will you be here tonight?”

Before I knew it, Jackie was offering to walk out to her trailer and grab me a company shirt. A half hour later, this happened.

It is not lost on me that my farewell tour of the Fair and the friends I made there involve food vendors.

I love my life!


STATS:

Walked: 7,833 steps or 3.3 miles. Except for a couple of days, I was freakishly consistent with my Fair mileage this year.

Re-entry animal: Pig…or so we were told. We closed out the Green Gate at 10:20pm

Tums: None?!

Knee Scar Band-Aid:

A little girl in line with us for the Ferris wheel
complimented me on my Band-Aid choice

Earrings:

Not a fun fair food today but carefully chosen.  These
have purple rings -- and purple is the color of the
Fair Court. Also, the purple rings are made from
the same kind of surgical metal that some
rods and screws in my back are made from.
And my back definitely needs to be
represented -- it did very well this Fair
all things considered.  Thank you, Back!

FAIR FOOD FEAST PARADE:

I feel like I ended my feasting on a good note. I revisited some favorites, finally ate a few others, and somehow managed not to overdo things to the point of popping antacids. Whoo hoo!

With Rob’s late arrival, I was left to attempt selfies while eating. Selfies with my regular camera, not my phone, so I couldn’t see what I was doing. Simultaneously eating, keeping my eyes open, and taking a picture was much more challenging than anticipated. Rob is amazing Staff. I missed him.

The Final Parade of 2016:

My breakfast with some of my favorite people. Oh to be
one of them!  Scrambled egg, hash browns, and chocolate
milk.  The egg and browns are doused in ketchup and
Tabasco.  Got this entire meal for $5 at the Lions Booth.

Chocolate milk!  Wow, that stuff is good!
Back to the boring white stuff tomorrow...

Lovely selfie of me eating the scrambled egg.  I took
several shots.  This was unbelievably the best one.

And the hash browns.  So delicate.  Oh, I miss my
photographer!

Raspberry peach milkshake.  First time trying this combo
and I liked it!

My photographer is back!  And I'm *still* working on
the Spree box.  I have about 1/3 of the box left.

My last Smasher of the 2016 Fair.  My new go-to combo
of Strawberry Mango.  I'm all about the customized
combos this year.  Thanks, Stan!

White cheddar kettle popcorn.  So good!  I love the salt
and the light cheese.  I have about 1/3 of this left, too.
Rob helped a little.  He was surprised he liked it.

Frozen strawberry lemonade from the corn on the cob stand.
It almost gave me brain freeze several times but was
otherwise good.  I think I prefer the pink lemonade better;
it's less artificial tasting.  Yes, I know that's sort of a
ridiculous thing to say about anything at the Fair.

The exceptionally messy Mexi-Dog.  Hot dog with salsa,
nacho cheese sauce, sour cream, and jalpenos.
I used a lot of napkins but no fork.  Go me!

A deluxe elephant ear from the Malt Shoppe near the
milkshake barn.  Fried dough with sugar, cinnamon, butter, ice
cream, strawberries, and whipped cream.  Rob and I
planned to share it but we didn't finish it.  It was not made well.
Others around us looked right, so we just got one they should
have tossed.  The line was long and there were noises they
had just run out of strawberries and Rob ate the ice cream and whipped
cream so we decided not to ask for any money back.  Instead we
went to the Deep Fried Heaven Truck for redemption.

The Grand Finale:  deep fried Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
I saved the best for last.
The End.