At first, I thought I might write a separate entry for each day I spent at our Nevada County Fair (and I attended at least part of each of the five days), there being PLENTY to talk about and some nice pictures, but had second thoughts about that strategy. For one thing, I was at the Fair so much, I had no time to blog about it. For another, as with others of my many passions, most folks begin to nod off after paragraph two, as I have yet to learn the fine art of efficient expression. We'll do it all in two entries.
This will be a good exercise for me and just plain good for you. Here goes:
Day One (Wed., Aug.11)--The Longest Day. One of the things I love about our fair is the opportunity to sit (usually on bales of straw) in seminars and learn about all sorts of stuff. I go through the fair program days before and plan my schedule around the presentations and demos. I can't get to them all. This year, I learned more about: Gardening with Native Plants, Finer Points of Organic Gardening, Local Wild Birds, and Winter Gardening (see a theme?). All great. Good thing I'd brought a sack lunch. I'll have to catch some of the others next year.
Late in the afternoon, it was time to run around to the three buildings in which there were exhibits of art and handicrafts, mine among them, to see if I'd won any ribbons. Happily, I had.
Once again, my chances of running away with the blue in the "professional calligraphy" category were excellent, mine being the only entry. Such a great strategy! (I'll post a better picture later this week) I entered two older baskets in another contest (the one I was making for the fair hit an unfortunate snag) and came away with a second place for one of them. 
Alas, I received no prize whatsoever in my first attempt at a category in the fabric arts. Folks around here are serious about their fabric arts, let me just say. My Green/black cardigan sweater (not brown, as it looks--I'll post another pic of it later) was lookin' fine, but it was no match for the Blue Lace Stitch number farther on down the table. I'll be back.
Then, whew!, it was time to run home to pick up Tom and bring him to the Fair. We had to be back before 6pm. That was the scheduled time for Special Food Contest of the Day, and Wednesday's contest was cheesecake! I had made one the day before in anticipation. OMG, they were all so beautiful! Mine, a layered chocolate/peanut butter/caramel confection (homemade caramel syrup!), was somehow miscategorized into the "traditional" versus the "exotic" group for judging.
We'll never know what might have happened, but there was no cigar for Sandy Gold this time. Still, it was interesting to watch (if a bit protracted, sitting on our straw bales--that's me) as judges pounded down some of all 24 entries; how do I get one of those gigs?. Then, after the winners were announced, we all got to taste the cheesecakes. Everybody wins. In the photo, mine is at the bottom, with a few of the others visible beyond.As far as Tom is concerned, he can "do" the Fair in two hours or less, so after the cheesecake, we got some Fair Food and walked around to the exhibits to show him where my stuff was lurking. It's the only way he darkens the door of the Fabric Arts Building. The food at our Fair is mostly provided by local charitable organizations (Lions Club, Jewish Communtity Center, etc.) from permanent structures on "Treat Street". So buying a loaded baked potato benefits the 4H, and so on. In the fun zone, a few trailers hawk the cotton candy and kettle corn. Tom got the bratwurst (his fave!) and I the veggie rice bowl from the Soroptimists. We munched as we listened to some fun live music (there are five stages with continuous performances).
The next four days...
