Life in Geezerville: County Fair Edition

On Friday a friend and I went to the county fair. This geezer is used to county fairs happening at the end of summer, but our county is different---the fair is in April. I’m guessing the organizers want to avoid the desert heat later in the summer. Whatever, it looked like any small county fair I’ve ever been too. Lots of exhibits; lots of really pretty animals; exhibits from kids; lots of rides and food. This geezer was puzzled at first. I was expecting a more “sophisticated” fair since we live near “Sin City” … lucky for us, it was small town fair just the way I like them.

 

I particularly like to see what the kids are doing. They are the future, and it’s nice to have an idea if the future can think and work. There were several science exhibits that were quite creative, even if they did not break new ground. That’s not the idea. The kids just need to follow-through with their idea.

 

Back in the day when I taught elementary school, I would encourage my kids to develop a project for the county fair. I never had much luck in the endeavor—usually 1/3 of my class would follow-thru with the project. The fun part…some classrooms had less, so my kids brought home a fair-few blue ribbons over the years. I would try to brag about previous winners to encourage the new batch of kids to participate. Based on what I saw, the “battle” is still happening. It’s an old battle—you can lead the horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. The same bodes true for county fair displays.

 The animals are always my favorite at the fair. The kids work long and hard training their critters. Getting a 250-pound pig to walk in a circle requires lots of training and when the kid doing the training weighs in at 50 pounds, it takes a bit of bravery too. While a steer can weigh over 1000 pounds, and a lamb only 100 pounds, all of the critters can kick, bite, butt, and generally be cantankerous if they are not trained right by their child. A youngster and a critter make a formidable team, and I believe the youngster learns a lot from the process. I also commend their parents, as without the backing/support from mom and dad, the show cannot go on.

 

Along with displays of crafts, animals, master gardeners, cooks, there are rides. Don’t forget the rides.  This geezer thought the best one was the tiny choo-choo train. I saw the conductor and asked where a certain exhibit was, and he said “I’ll take you there” … then he asked two boys if they would sit together—the boys complied and us 2 geezers squoze into the tiny bench seat meant for people a lot shorter (and younger) than us. We did fit, but our feet were bigger than the foot well. Oh well…it was a ride and we needed it. By the end of the day (that means when we were too tired to do anything else) we had walked well over 2 miles…and we only saw a small fraction of the fair.

 

It's important for geezers to get out and about. If you want to have a bit of fun, take a gang of geezers to the fair and see what trouble they can get into. Remember, we’re all in this together.