I admit I hadn’t visited our Putnam County Agricultural Fair in many years until last year when my husband wanted to ride the Double Ferris Wheel. Reporters had made a big deal about it in the newspaper and he wanted to ride it. So we went, walked around the midway, watched a bit of the tractor pull event and left after riding the Double Ferris Wheel a couple of times.
My sister and her girls often entered items in the craft section of the fair. So this year I decided to enter a few of my crocheted and loom knitted items. As I was sitting in a rocking chair watching all of the people bringing in their beautiful stitchery, craft items, crocheted and knitted items, canned goods, flowers, photos, and drawings, I was amazed at the bounty of talent our county had to offer.
That morning the youth horse shows were going on in the arena. Some of the Jr. cowboys and cowgirls were so cute as well as being excellent riders. One young man, in particular, had a hat which seemed larger than he was. When the pony would gallop he had to reach up to keep his hat from falling. I thought how wonderful it was for parents to have taught their children to respect animals, learn to ride and be willing to compete at such a young age.
It was great fun to see all of the happy people who were using the annual fair as a time to reconnect with folks and talk about their kids and grandkids.
For me, competing was a bit easier. As I’ve gotten older, just watching TV is often boring. But I’m not over the hill yet, so doing crafts or crocheting is boring. So I took two boring things and combined them into success. Now I watch/listen to TV and crochet or loom knit. I decided to enter a few of my items in the fair. And to my surprise, I actually won a few ribbons.
My sister and her daughters also won several ribbons as well as other folks I knew. The Fair Board nicely opened many categories allowing the largest number of people to have a good chance of winning. I didn’t realize until after the fair when I was picking up my items, that cash prizes were included with the ribbons. Since the cash is spread over so many categories the prize money was small but that made it great fun for all of the competitors.
Since our town has spread out so much, our fair grounds are a part of the City rather than being out in the county. Word has it that this property may be sold, and a new fairground location would be purchased and placed in a more rural agricultural setting. Personally, I hope it always stays where it is. At least, for as long as I am here.
Fair logos and midway photo from various online sources, otherwise my photos were used.
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