Fair Season

[John T]

Its here, our County and State Fairs. What impresses me the most is how fairs are FOR ALL AGES. Wayyyyyyyyy back as a kid Id go to ride the rides,,,,, Then as a teen to check out the chicks n babes and socialize and show my 4H Exhibits,,,,,,And now as an old fart to see the tractors and animals and old friends and socialize BUT THERES STILL ALLLLLLLLLL AGES AT THE FAIR. Where else do you see such age diversity???

Tell ya what, it does my heart good to see families and kids at the fairs showing livestock WHAT A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY TIME. The kids who do that are generally religious, polite and responsible unlike suburbanite yuppy abundant progressive kids with their I Pods and I Phones and pants on the ground and body piercings and fowl language and disrespectful behavior grrrrrrrrrrr Im NOT saying allllllllll are like that, Im ONLY saying the kids at the fair showing livestock are in general more polite and responsible and respectful then those who hang at the mall on their cell phones texting.

Ive noticed this and formed this opinion after yearsssssssssssss of observation at say the local malls versus the fairs, feel free to disagree and have your own different opinion, I'm NOT wanting to fight, just posting my yearSSSSSSSSSSSs of observation and experience

I usually go to the Indiana State fair for the draft horse shows when they have Belgian and Percheron and Clydesdale 4, 6, and 8 horse hitches parading in figure 8 in the enormous Pepsi collisseum WHAT A SIGHT TO BEHOLD. I like to stand outside where they have to make a hard 90 degree turn to enter the pit to the collisseum and Ive been told by the drivers and observed that when the lead team makes that turn and hears that loud organ parade march music THERES NO HOLDING THEM BACK they start a hard gallop or trot to get in there and do their show trot as instructed. Their ears perk up and they start that nervous prancing when they turn and hear that organ music pumping and I dont think they can be stopped from entering the collisseum and trotting wooooooooooooo hooooooooo

I take the RV and stay a few days and take in the wholeeeeeeeeee thing plus eat eat eat pork chops n ribeye steaks n corn on the cob n elephant ears IT DOTN GET MUCH BETTER THEN FAIR SEASON

God Bless all n thanks for farm families

Ol John T (Old Conservative fuddy duddy I reckon n proud of it)

 

[AzPeapicker]

J.T . I agree with you ioo % , times have really changed from when I was a kid. I be 73 this fall & can t seem to grip all the new fads.

 

[Dick2]

My wife had a distant cousin that worked as a hired hand on a farm. He never drew his wages for the year until fair week started. Then he'd draw his wages, go to the fair and blow his money and stay drunk the whole week. After the fair was over, he went back to the farm broke and worked for another year until the next fair and he would repeat.

 

[JRSutton]

JohnT - with a son and daughter in 4h, I'm more than a little biased, but I still have to agree with you 1000%

Exhibiting animals at the fairs is a fantastic experience for them. We do many fairs, and the kids have to stay with their cows the whole time, answering questions from the general public.

That in itself goes a LONG way in making them well rounded kids, able to hold an intelligent conversation with adults.

But you're also right that, overall, there's a general sense of humbleness and "niceness" inherently in the kids that's hard to find elsewhere.

I hear it CONSTANTLY from parents walking through the barns. From the quick snips at their own kids "see how nice all these kids are being" to full out praise from somebody who just spent 30 minutes talking to one of my kids about cows or goats.

I credit a lot of it to the 4h program itself.

To any parents out there with young kids, I can't recommend it highly enough. Going to the fairs is a lot of work, and you never really appreciate it while you're doing it, but as the years go on you realize what a positive influence it has on your kids.

I of course live in a heavily populated area, so the fairs are more of an oasis away from "modern civilization" than it may be for some of you who are lucky enough to live a little further removed from it already.

But the bottom line is, by constantly seeing the two different ways of life side by side, I don't think there's any question that living closer to the land is the right way to live. No better way to raise a child.

Again - most of you people in the middle of the country already know this. It's those of us on the coasts who seem to have lost sight of it.

 

[mike plotner]

I show steers at our fair. We will be lucky to have the minimum (5) steers to crown a Champion. There will be several hundered rabbits and chickens though. I love the fair since me and buddies are on the Jr. Fairboard so we have trash clean up every morning which gets... intersting. Nothing like picking up chicks in a Allis D-14 with a wagon full of trash behind it! Or crusin the track in the parade with a Case VAC with a John Derre 18 corn picker.