This is the third year that we've had the opportunity to attend the Nevada County Fair, and time spent there is increasing each year. I would like to be there every minute of the five whole days that it's open, actually. It started Wednesday, and I spent nearly two entire days thoroughly enjoying myself! Given my druthers, I'd have headed back over there this morning, again, but decided that--well, really.
Here's a sample, though, of how much great stuff I was able to cram into a couple of days:
I LOVE the animals! I saw close-up and sometimes even touched: alpacas (always TOO cute!!), gigantic white shire horses (pic), saw one set of the Budweiser Clydesdales (one getting a new shoe in photo), bats, an owl, a peregrine falcon (fastest animal on the planet--240mph), red-tailed hawk (photo), bees, and every kind of farm animal, plain and fancy, there is.
I love the exhibits, the stuff people make: Art (my entry in professional calligraphy got a blue ribbon--of course, it was the only entry. Still.), crafts--love the quilts/fabric art and yarn creations--don't know that I'm inclined to take up spinning or weaving any time soon, though, which are so big up here. My baskets came in third, this year (gotta step it up next time!), kitchen crafts, including World's Ugliest Cake Contest (the litterbox cake is always a winner in my book), woodturning (which is something I'd like to try), etc.
I love the class/demos in the gardening and natural-environment subjects. This is an activity that is not so practical for a fair the size of San Diego's, but it's perfect here. This year, I sat on one or the other of two sets of straw bales for hours on end over two days (each class is 50 minutes, or so) learning all about (in separate lectures/demos): local wild birds (with another session on feed and houses for said birds), bats, living with wildlife (where I got very close to the owl, hawk and falcon), composting, vermiculture (I've already made my bins!), permaculture/rain catchment (amazing!), water wells, and septic systems (complete with a free roll of septic-safe toilet paper, the kind we already use). The middle of the days were so booked that I just stayed put and munched my sack lunches while waiting for the next class to begin. I met a master gardener who lives nearby and we're going to go walking together soon.
I saw gorgeous plants and produce--very inspiring. And found out that there's a tomato-tasting event coming up in a month where we can go and taste about thirty kinds of tomatoes to find out which ones we want to grow ourselves. I'm so there.
I went into the model-railroad exhibit (permanent fixture of the fairgrounds), and discovered a fellow tenor from choir in there running trains. There's a big vintage farm-engine exhibit that always sputters with a certain crazy rhythm at one end of the fairgrounds. And the blacksmith. Of course, every organization has its own canopy and it's a good place to get that kind of information. The Aikido Ka folks ("peaceful warriors") seem a little aggressive to me. Didn't ever see too many people at the Idaho-Maryland Mine Company booth. Just as well. They want to open a huge old mine again for production. Not my favorite plan. Go away.
In San Diego, one of our favorite activities was to walk through the three cavernous commercial buildings, full of all sorts of products and their hawkers. Of course, we own many (!) of those products now (and use them! My Bamix just gave out after about 30 years--sniff). The size of the population doesn't attract too many of those folks here, alas. Still, there's one building full of them and a whole bunch of other interesting stuff being sold under canopies all over the grounds. Some emphasis on tie-dye and home-made jewelry.
And, of course, there are the carnival rides. They cram an amazing number of them amongst the trees!
The music! There are bands and other musical performances all day long on three different stages. Two of our faves this year were Solid Air, a rockabilly-sort of a band, and Code Blue, a little more rock than billy. All excellent. Plus lots we didn't hear. I love Taiko drumming and there's a local group that performs every year. Here's a picture. I sat through two identical performances in a row. The rhythms and the choreography are hypnotic! I'd think about joining, but their practices conflict with choir.
A few contests probably not seen in San Diego: Salt Lick Art (shapes of a salt lick made by animals licking it), tallest weed (woolly mullein wins every year-duh), carrotmobile races. Maybe they were there, but we didn't see 'em.
I didn't mention the food, a fair Hot Topic. It's pretty basic, as far as fair food goes. So we have to wait for the State Fair in Sacramento to get the deep-fried twinkies or White Castle burgers. No worries. Shouldn't do that stuff more than once a year, anyway.
So, it's only Friday. Hmm. Got a few hours this evening and a couple more whole days left...
