Last day of the fair.
Our Historical Committee had hosted a couple of spelling bees for
all ages. I missed the first, but we held the second on Friday morning. We had several groups with a blue ribbon for the winners (fair goers love ribbons.) and pencils for all contestants for all. Here is a picture of all who participated in the Friday spelling bee.
After that I caught the tractor operators contest. I had never seen that before, being busy in previous years with the Open class dairy show. A friend's husband secured the braggin rights in the Adult division, soundly beating the younger whippersnappers.
Next I saw the Small Animal and Large Animal Grand Slam contests. These are the competitions for the champions of all the breed showmanship contest. (Large Animal Grand Slam has the top showman from Beef, Swine, Sheep, Dairy, Llama/Alpaca and Horse.) Each bre
ed is then exhibited by each showman. You can usually pick out who won which as the horse person holds the halter of a heifer like a horse, and the sheep person has the right grip and posture. But they all have a crash course in the other breeds and it does make for a fun show.
Rachel from spinning group came to see the animals. We chatted and made the rounds of the barn. We checked out the fleeces left in the case and tried to find the cute Jacob sheep, but Dave had left the building.
Later my Oldest Son competed in the Farm class tractor pull. Not to be confused with the
modifieds and big boys that pull on Friday night. He has never won, but he has a good time. Usually he spends the morning washing and polishing the tractor he brings. This year, I think he came right from the field. And although the tractor he brought was only a 2 wheel drive, he was in the same contest as the big front assist (4 wheel drive) tractors. Above is a picture of the competition he faced. They added weights twice to have enough in the sled for this one. And here is my Oldest Son in his boss's beat up, dirty, straight from the manure spreader tractor. He didn't win, but he got past that cone--147 feet and a lot farther than both he and I thought he would do. And while all the 4 wheel drive tractors did beat him, he managed to be another 2 wheel drive that was competing. Even the announcer thought he did a fine job, while commenting that his dirty tractor was what the farm pull was all about--bringing it in right from the field.
Finally at 7pm--a well beloved fair tradition for a bunch of farm mothers who want to celebrate surviving fair week. All week we avoid the one vendor who has french fried everything and the
wonderful greasy food there. But on Friday night, we indulge. The Grease Fest (formerly called the Grease Orgy, but some people objected to the name.) I tried to find a recent picture but the most recent I could find was from 2003 fair. And I know it had been an ongoing tradition by then. We recap the week, laughing, crying and having great time eating greasy food. Part of our group is a family of about 5 sisters and the stories they can tell, about fair week and our families always leave us holding our sides from laughing so hard. Part of the fun is that the heavyweight and modified tractor pulling is trying to drown us out, but we persevere and have a great time, wrapping up our fair experience.
Our Historical Committee had hosted a couple of spelling bees for
all ages. I missed the first, but we held the second on Friday morning. We had several groups with a blue ribbon for the winners (fair goers love ribbons.) and pencils for all contestants for all. Here is a picture of all who participated in the Friday spelling bee.After that I caught the tractor operators contest. I had never seen that before, being busy in previous years with the Open class dairy show. A friend's husband secured the braggin rights in the Adult division, soundly beating the younger whippersnappers.
Next I saw the Small Animal and Large Animal Grand Slam contests. These are the competitions for the champions of all the breed showmanship contest. (Large Animal Grand Slam has the top showman from Beef, Swine, Sheep, Dairy, Llama/Alpaca and Horse.) Each bre
ed is then exhibited by each showman. You can usually pick out who won which as the horse person holds the halter of a heifer like a horse, and the sheep person has the right grip and posture. But they all have a crash course in the other breeds and it does make for a fun show.Rachel from spinning group came to see the animals. We chatted and made the rounds of the barn. We checked out the fleeces left in the case and tried to find the cute Jacob sheep, but Dave had left the building.
Later my Oldest Son competed in the Farm class tractor pull. Not to be confused with the
modifieds and big boys that pull on Friday night. He has never won, but he has a good time. Usually he spends the morning washing and polishing the tractor he brings. This year, I think he came right from the field. And although the tractor he brought was only a 2 wheel drive, he was in the same contest as the big front assist (4 wheel drive) tractors. Above is a picture of the competition he faced. They added weights twice to have enough in the sled for this one. And here is my Oldest Son in his boss's beat up, dirty, straight from the manure spreader tractor. He didn't win, but he got past that cone--147 feet and a lot farther than both he and I thought he would do. And while all the 4 wheel drive tractors did beat him, he managed to be another 2 wheel drive that was competing. Even the announcer thought he did a fine job, while commenting that his dirty tractor was what the farm pull was all about--bringing it in right from the field.Finally at 7pm--a well beloved fair tradition for a bunch of farm mothers who want to celebrate surviving fair week. All week we avoid the one vendor who has french fried everything and the
wonderful greasy food there. But on Friday night, we indulge. The Grease Fest (formerly called the Grease Orgy, but some people objected to the name.) I tried to find a recent picture but the most recent I could find was from 2003 fair. And I know it had been an ongoing tradition by then. We recap the week, laughing, crying and having great time eating greasy food. Part of our group is a family of about 5 sisters and the stories they can tell, about fair week and our families always leave us holding our sides from laughing so hard. Part of the fun is that the heavyweight and modified tractor pulling is trying to drown us out, but we persevere and have a great time, wrapping up our fair experience.
Update on Monday night--Christy sent me this picture from Grease Fest 2007.
No comments:
Post a Comment