I worked at the fair today. Specifically the Preble County Fair.
First thing in the morning.
Well not really first thing in the morning for me. I had to be there promptly for the first shift at 10 AM. But I had been up for six hours by that point in the day. So, snappy I was, indeed.
I always enjoy going to the fair for a short little while. I think it’s the great thing that so many people get to participate in all the different activities and competitions. I mean, the possibilities are nearly endless. There are pie baking contests, potato growing contests, quilting contests. You can enter your floral offerings, or your artwork. They have categories for collectibles, and not-so-collectibles. This year, in stead of judging the photography contest, I entered it in the Professional Category.
Kids from all around show their animals. I am talking animals which include everything from dogs to ducks to pigs to cows. And… of course….. there’s nothing like winning the blue ribbon!
Unless of course you win Best of Show. And then you can really sit on your high horse. If you brought your high horse to the fair. And believe me, there are plenty of high horses walking around, low horses, and medium ponies.
So all in all, today was a good day working at the fair. I was in the Preble County Art Association booth. I am the Vice President this year on the Board of Trustees. The organization is completely cool in itself. And I am not the least bit biased.
In our building are all the entries for the Visual Arts Competition. Photography and Painting and Pottery, mostly.
We had activities too. Chalking the Walks, Face Painting, and PYOP (Paint Your Own Pottery). The face painting is always interesting. Truth be told…… it is best when I leave the face painting and others.
A little girl came in this morning and had high hopes of looking like a peacock. So I painted her face all blue, and told her she was a Smurf. The next girl wanted to be a puppy. I gave her a solid coat of green, and said…”There. You’re Shrek.” She left crying. I called after her to see if she wanted some red dots and maybe she’d look like a Christmas Tree. It went from bad to worse.
When her mother inquired, I said it was a good life lesson. I mean, heck… when I was that little girl’s age… I had aspirations of being a world-class Olympic Athlete. But now I write a sluggo column every night without any pay, and hardly any benefits. One day… dreams of Peacocks. The next day… you are a Smurf. The mother smacked me on my nose with my own paintbrush.
Oh, but in the end, it was a good day. There’s a lot to do at the fair too. You can ride the rides, eat the food, look at all the different displays. There’s just a bazillion things I’ll tell you! I took the time to see some big winners. I have a couple of friends that won best of show in their categories. I’m pretty proud of them. It’s an awesome thing to do.
When I was growing up we never went to the fair, or participated. And now. At 52 years of age, I won my first blue ribbon ever. But growing up, we did not have 4-H. I just don’t think we had a lot of room in the inner-city to raise pigs.
But I’ll tell you what, I’m living the dream now, aren’t I? Yes living the dream! I can’t tell you how elated I was tonight when I was trying to get the geese in and they were playing the stubborn card. I had to go back out three times. Yep, I sure am living the dream.
But back to the Fair. While our fair is not perfect, it has its fair share of offerings. And that, to me, seems more than fair.