Thursday, September 3, 2009

WE WENT TO THE ANIMAL FAIR....



...the birds and the beasts were there.
The old baboon, by the light of the moon,
was combing his auburn hair.
We were up bright and early today so we could go to the Montgomery County Fair. We hadn't attended for a long time. Although we no longer "do" the rides and we don't partake of food offered there, I'll admit the fried onion rings and funnel cakes smelled delicious. We enjoyed walking through the sheep and goat barns, the chicken and rabbit barn, and the horse barn. Many of the animals had been hand-raised by 4H members and were very social and allowed us to pet them.
The displays in the Agricultural Building - all the garden produce, pickles, pumpkins, jellies, and jams - were fun to see. We toured the craft areas and appreciated the artistic entries and ribbon winners. It's been many years since I entered my own handmade items to be judged, but I think I might do that next year, if I can remember.
Spouse and I remarked that in the evening, the fairgrounds would be ablaze with brightly colored lights and we reminisced about the times we accompanied our parents to the fair. As children, we were excited by the lights and music as we took in all the wonderful sights and worked our way through the crowds. The atmosphere of the fair seemed to have changed, or was it just that we had? We're not as young as we used to be and we attended this fair during daylight hours so there were no bright lights and no rides in progress. We didn't hear any circus music either. Most of the shows were scheduled for later in the day or for the evening and neither of us wanted to stay that long. We weren't even tempted by cotton candy or other sticky concoctions and there wasn't a sideshow barker to be seen or heard.
So what happened to the fair? Were our expectations too high? Perhaps they were, but we only hoped for a bit of excitement and a little old fashioned charm. We didn't find those things today, but we still had a nice time, the walking was good for us, and I decided it would be fun to raise some goats.

1 comment:

Cat Nap Inn Primitives said...

Hey there Kady..the fair doesn't hold all the things it used to like when we were young..we went last year and will not go again for at least 10 more..nothing there for us..too old I think...glad you had a good time..we enjoy seeing the animals too..and petting them...and the funnel cakes are tasty..;)