The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Fun at the Fairs!

It’s my favorite time of the year! No, it’s not Christmas, or my birthday. It doesn’t come just one day a year, and as a matter of fact, I’m merely taking a break from the season—a “half-time” so to speak. The time of year I’m writing about is STATE FAIR SEASON! And, if you’ve noticed an absence on my blog, it is highly due to the fact that August and part of September was consumed by state fairs from Illinois to Idaho and points in between, and in October, I have two more state fairs and two more national livestock shows to attend. So I wanted to take this break to share with you some of the highlights of my state fair adventures.

I’ve been everywhere. I started August at the All American Breeders’ Futurity in Louisville, Ky.; then off to Illinois State Fair in Springfield; Wisconsin State Fair, Milwaukee (same trip as IL SF); then to Western Idaho Fair, Boise; DuQuoin Fair back in Southern Illinois; Minnesota State Fair, Minneapolis; Tennessee State Fair, Nashville. This month’s itinerary includes Arkansas State Fair, Little Rock, the NILE, Billings, Mont; North Carolina State Fair, Raleigh; and the American Royal in Kansas City.

It’s my job! So before I talk about my adventures, I might as well state the obvious, I don’t go to these fairs just for fried cheese curds and funnel cakes, I go for work. That’s right, I get paid to give up my weekends and look in dirty bovine ears at tattoos and tailing cattle in a show ring and taking the champion photos. So, in between that, I like to take in the fairs! Although, most I go to annually, a few have been new adventures for me this year, and I always like to find one unique feature of each fair; usually it’s food.

I spend an extended amount of time in Illinois due to the fact they show junior cattle on Friday and open on Tuesday, and we go to Wisconsin in between. This year, I actually “saw” more of the fair because Keegan Cassady hung out with me, so we rode a couple rides, including the sky ride, which goes from the middle of the fairgrounds to the edge, and gives riders a “birds-eye-view”. This was HUGE for me, due to my fear of unstable heights, but we did have a great view.




One of my annual stops at IL SF is the butter cow display—she’s right next to the best ice cream! I love the butter cow, and each year she is so unique!


Another cool new discovery this year in IL was the WOW Ball—they are like human hamster balls that go on water. Keegan did this for about 5 minutes, and it was a blast to watch her! Looked like a great workout!



Another first for me at the IL SF was a champion duck party! A junior Angus member, Morgan Kramer, had the supreme champion duck, Donald. Her mom Vickey is always up for a good party, so they busted Donald out of the poultry barn and brought him to the Angus barn for a duck party.




Wisconsin was a quick trip—but I had to take a picture of the cheese stand. Even though I didn’t have any this trip, I did indulge during the World Beef Expo in Sept.




On to the Western Idaho Fair, and when in Idaho—eat potatoes! So, I had a plate of curly fries for lunch, and they offered me “fry sauce”. I accepted it, but only used it as a photo prop—it looked like a mixture of ketchup and mayo, neither of which I’m a fan of.



While eating my fried delicacy, I also watch “Bibby” the clown make balloon animals, flowers, bugs. You name it, she made it, and for free too! I watched this for about 35 minutes until I realized we had a junior show to work!




DuQuoin was a new fair for me—I loved this display of produce!



And, another favorite there, and at most fairs—Salt Water Taffy! Mmmmm!



The Great Minnesota Experience aka MN SF was also a new experience. I was warned that there was going to be a lot of people—but WOW!



I drove by the main entrance at 6:45 a.m. the day of the Angus show, and there were fairgoers going in the main gate on a Saturday! I couldn’t believe it! I did discover the next generation of butter cow carvers.



And, in Minnesota, they combined two of my favorites to make wine ice cream!



The one thing I look forward to each year in Tennessee is the pumpkin and watermelon weigh-off.



This year the giant pumpkin was smaller than the past, but the watermelon set a new record.


I also like exploring diversity of ag commodities from across the country, like tobacco hanging here, at TN SF.


And, so that’s a summary—not real brief, but I hope you enjoyed the pictures, courtesy of my iPhone.

What’s your favorite fair? Favorite fair memory? Let me know! Maybe I’ll have a new experience I need to check out along my adventures!

State Fair Tourist

I really don't know too many people who attend more cattle shows and fairs than I do on annual basis, and no that is not something I'm boasting about. I'm merely stating a fact. I don't have a hard "show road" life; up in the wee hours--washing, rinsing, brushing, blowing, feeding, clipping, poop scooping, making tie outs and repeating it all again tomorrow. But, I wouldn't say I have a cush job either--tattoo checking, rule enforcing, class breaking, people pleasing, lining up, ring working, picture taking, and show reporting, and doing it all again the next week. It really does break my heart when I have to disqualify an entry for a wrong tattoo or no tattoo or anything--I do have a heart contrary to what you've heard or seen.

But, today, and the next two days, I'm at a new show for me, and that doesn't happen often. I'm at the Florida State Fair. We checked in nearly 80 in the youth show and more than 100 in the open show today, and I soaked up every ray of 60 degree sun I could. But when check-in was over, I became a tourist. That's right, friends:
ME+CAMERA PHONE+EARED BREEDS=STATE FAIR TOURIST

You see, I had seen the Brahmans unloading when we arrived this morning, and I LOVE THEM! I have loved them ever since my first trip to V8 Ranch for the big judging work out on the way to Houston. Setting all practically aside, I adore their beautiful eyes, their long ears and even their humps. So, Rachel and Catherine, if you are reading this post, please don't laugh at me too hard. . .I've always been a little envious of you and your locale--and I would have gone through zillions of rolls of film shooting pictures of these beautiful creatures had I grown up where you did!

This bull was a natural poser for me, and this pair, the mama with the V8 brand on her hip just looked like they totally adored each other.




Now, onto my real NEW adventure. . .Miniature Zebus. I never had heard of this breed until today, and I think they are cute. Probably not real practical for most beef producers, but according to the information I compiled from numerous Web sites after I Googled them, they are a disease resistant breed that loves hot weather matures later in life. They get to be 300-500 pounds and ideally no more than 30-40 inches tall when measured right behind their hump. They are great for small acreages, young families, kids rodeo and pets. And the gentleman from Louisiana tried to sell me this multi-colored one today!! Bet my new neighbors would love that!!!

This little baby is only 5 months old--I thought it would be ideal for any of the nieces or nephews, but you know what they say about paybacks!! Some of the animals in the stalls were 5-7 years old! And they weren't cow-calf pairs.

So, these were my photos opps today. I also got to see Angus breeders Leroy Baldwin and William Graham's videos in the Florida Ag Hall of Fame exhibit, which was cool. All this excitement, and the fair doesn't officially kick off until tomorrow! I wonder what fun I'll have then!?!?!