Fair Feast 2009 – The Final Entry

It’s probably a good thing today was our last day at the fair. My body is done, in so many ways. But my heart is sad and wistful that my most favorite time of the year is coming to an end. Luckily, next week the big sign at the fairgrounds will be updated with the fair dates for 2010 so my countdown will begin yet again.

We had great fun today just wandering around, looking for whatever might catch our attention. The highlight involved some llamas, of course.

Non-Food Fun

• Not interested in monster trucks, we instead settled into the bleachers for the other main event of the day: the Junior Livestock Market Auction. This is where 4-H kids sell their prized animals by the pound to high-rolling philanthropists, butchers, and Les Schwab. Les is a local tire company that inexplicably runs a promotion every year in which you get free beef with every tire purchase. Now I know where they get the beef. In any case, we sat for a couple hours on the free stadium pads gratefully provided and listened to a fast-talking auctioneer run up bids on a variety of fowl, sheep, and steer. At one point we saw some friends on the other side of the auction ring but we were reluctant to wave to them for fear of inadvertently buying a duck. Fortunately, they eventually saw us so we were able to chat for a few minutes between animals.
• I know nothing about horses, but one of my favorite events is the drill team competition in which a group of 5-15 horses and riders run around in patterns and synchronicity. We got to an afternoon event just after two horses had collided while doing some sort of figure-eight. The rider had been thrown off but she thankfully seemed fine despite the call to the paramedics. The horse on the other hand seemed visibly dazed. The handlers walked it around for awhile while the on-site vet observed it. Eventually the show went on, but I was startled by how dangerous the event actually is. One family with young children eventually left, after trying to calm the kids down, with the parting comment: “We’re heading to the midway. Who would have thought carnival rides would be safer than drill team?”
• We finally went to the midway to see for ourselves the much-hyped “Lolly Swing.” It is a kiddie ride that lived at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch for quite awhile. Several years ago, a bunch of Jacko’s rides were sold and the carnival contractor hired by our fair happened to snap up the Lolly Swing. The newspaper said that other fairs around the country have had lines hours long this summer of people – mostly adults – wanting to ride the swing. Today, at our fair where we got both types of music – country AND western – there was no line and one Lolly seat was empty. Now if it had been Toby Keith’s swing...
• Highlight of the day: I participated in the Open Class Obstacles with Rojo and Smokey! What this means is that twice I walked a llama through an obstacle course while being judged by a guy with a clipboard. I was assessed a score and now have two ribbons (one for each llama) as proof of my feat. This was a hugely fun experience but also a nerve-wracking one. You see, I hadn’t planned to be in the competition. Rob and I just happened to be hanging around the Llama Greenway and chatting with Lori (Rojo’s owner) when her daughter said, “Toni, you should take Rojo through!” Before I knew it, Shannon and Rob were both encouraging me to pin a number to my sweatshirt and walk a llama through a ring of obstacles with an audience and a judge watching our every move. If you know me, you know I’m not a spontaneous person. I like to plan and prepare and organize. I absolutely do not mind jumping feet first into something; I just do all the research I can beforehand to know how deep the hole is. So jumping into a judging ring with absolutely no clue how to properly hold the lead, where to stand in relation to the judge, or what the judge is actually judging me on is, well, WAY out of my comfort zone. Not to mention that a few of the obstacles involved us crawling through a tunnel and under a bridge – things my back isn’t real keen on, especially after 3 days of sitting on metal grandstands. After a bit more peer pressure, I popped a Vicodin, chased it with a swig of strawberry slushy, and pinned #117 on my chest.
  
  Rojo and I did OK. I looked desperately at Shannon several times for guidance. I’m sure I got points deducted for that. Rojo refused to go up a ramp and he’s not much of a jumper nor am I. More deductions. He went under the bridge just fine but I didn’t. The last obstacle was walking through a pool of water. Not wanting to squish my way through the rest of the fair, I walked outside of the pool. More points off for that. In the end, I came in second-to-last. For the curious, a 9th Place ribbon is officially grey. BUT, it has gold embossed llamas on it so, really, how cool is that!
  
  The Vicodin in full swing and a quick tip from Lori about keeping the top of my hand visible while holding the lead, I decided I was game for taking Smokey – Rojo’s buddy – through the slightly easier Novice course. Although Novice referred to the llama, it was a much better description of his handler. Nevertheless, Smokey and I did much better and I got a yellow 5th Place ribbon to keep my grey one company. Rob told me a number of times today how proud he is of me. That’s very sweet but I don’t quite understand the pride. I’m thinking it has less to do with the ribbons and more to do with my being willing to do something completely unprepared. Either way, I just LOVE the embossed llama heads!!

Rojo is much more confident than I am.

Smokey and I doing a little obstacle dance.

And with that, we come to the final Food Feast of County Fair 2009:

I started off the day with a chicken gyro and fries from a Greek cuisine vendor new to the fair. It won't be a huge loss should they decide not to return next year. The tzatziki sauce helped a ton but I still should have had a corn dog.

Word on the street was that the deep fried corn on the cob was worth a try.  And it was. It was sort of like a cross between KFC and corn. Not bad. But the crispy coating distracted me from the corny goodness so next year, I'll stick to my full-sized, butter-smothered cob.

A strawberry slushy with a bonus umbrella. Score!

The Dairy Wives are known for their milkshakes made from fresh fruit. Sadly, they were out of raspberries. So I chose a chocolate-strawberry combo. Mmmm! And a souvenir cup! Score!

My last supper. Pad Thai. Mmmm! I had remembered from last year that the Thai Noodles vendor had surprised me but I couldn't remember if it was a good surprise or a bad surprise. Definitely good! So tasty -- especially drizzled with some Thai "rooster sauce."