We attended the opening day of the Nevada County Fair, yesterday--an anxiously-awaited occasion (We love fairs!). Well, actually, I got there at 1pm, and Tom joined me around 6:30 (this kind of timing allows me to wallow in the minutiae that I love--i.e. Animals and Stuff That People Make--before he even hits the parking lot).If you read the most recent post, you know that I entered a piece of calligraphy and a basket. Here's the formula for collecting a ribbon or two: Step One- move to a rural, sparsely-populated county; Step Two- choose categories no one else wants to enter. And, voila!, blue ribbons practically fall from the sky! Yep, only one piece of calligraphy was entered, so Yours Truly wins big! And I could only find two other baskets. Cha-ching! Another big blue! And I also saw the maidenhair fern that won in the Maidenhair Fern category, and my maidenhair fern could totally kick that maidenhair fern's butt! Next year, I'm rackin' up another blue, for sure (barring a possible watering failure)!
Other categories with glory potential--Tallest Weed, Clothing Made Entirely From Duct Tape, and Popsicle Stick Furniture Made By Somewhat Introverted Women With Green Eyes. Categories to stay away from include, painting (any age), photography (any type) and all food. There was an enormous array of Ugliest Dang Cake in the County entries. I've included a photo of a cake that didn't quite win, but that I'm pretty sure you wouldn't eat unless blindfolded, if you had to.
I'm sure you can't wait for me to list some of the other competitions. Lucky you! Sometime in the next four days, there'll be Squashmobile Races (put wheels on your butternut or zucchini), Text-Messaging Speed Contests (Rachel would totally CREAM the competition) and the obvious Confound the Local Judge (got a farm tool with a not-so-obvious purpose?).
I spent the day ogling at gigantic Shire horses and teeny miniature ones, alpacas (required), bees, chickens whose heads look like Koosh balls, perpetual-motion 4-day-old piglets (seriously, there were 11 of them, and they were like wind-up toys set on "high"--very funny), and pygmy goats. People are really into quilting around here; also weaving and knitting--beautiful stuff! I watched equestrian demos, a jujitsu exhibition, gold panning and handled silkworms. So cool!
Tom likes the commercial exhibits (paltry collection, compared to San Diego), the food and the music. We did, however, just keep on walking past the karaoke tent and Nevada County Idol competition. We have our limits.
The fun ends on Sunday. But, this is High Fair Season. The Cal-ee-for-nee-ya State fair starts next Friday!
