Fairs & Competitions

My mental focus has totally left me today. I'd say I don't know why, but that wouldn't exactly be true. We're going to the State Fair tomorrow - and for some reason we're both as excited as little kids to be taking off for the day! It's by no means our first trip to the fair, so I don't know where this excitement level is coming from.

I tried to focus on my online class today. I really did. I stuck with it for an hour, then I gave up. We took a nice afternoon walk in the park and then hit Dari Maid. Yum. I'm trying to regain my focus, but it's not happening so far. So it goes. The good news is that they're actually releasing the weekly lectures and readings a week ahead of schedule. So if I lose any time, I have some extra days to make it up.

I remember school starting while the State Fair was still going on when I was a kid. I was so envious of the 4-H kids who were excused from school to show livestock or give demonstrations at the fair. I always wanted to go to the fair, but we were never able to. And that just made me want to go more!

Growing up, and even after I was an adult, I thought it would be great to enter projects at the State Fair. At this point in my life, I don't have any excuse other than it's not really a priority now. When I was younger, I was moving around a lot. Because of that, I never had the opportunity of getting acquainted with the State Fairs in the various states where I lived to know how to enter items. Heaven knows, I did enough canning over the years to feed a small third-world country (or three hungry kids!). But there wasn't time to deal with getting the “perfect jar” to exhibit at the State Fair – there also wasn't money to pay entry fees.

I'm glad hubby's so sweet – he accompanies me as I go through the Home Ec building and look at all the food, sewing, and handiwork exhibits....they make me think of college friend Laura who exhibits her knitting projects in the Oklahoma State Fair. We also check out the 4-H Building and all the projects made by kids across the state. This year I intend to also make a point of enjoying the exhibits in the Fine Arts Building – I have a good friend exhibiting her photos.

My two older kids were able to be in 4-H a couple of years when we lived in Indiana. I'll never forget the excitement the first year when daughter's cookies received Reserve Grand Champion ribbon at the county fair. She didn't quite know what was going on, but she knew she had a big pretty ribbon. But, as a sign of the times, she was beat out by a boy. So it goes. Son hoped history would repeat itself the next year, but no ribbon came home with him. It was a sad day.

Those two older kids were so competitive with one another. I'll never forget the year they were both playing summer ball. It was a rainy spring, and games kept getting postponed. Daughter finally had her playoff games on the 4^th of July. Her team had a stellar day, and they ended up winning first place. In that Indiana community, each player got a trophy. She was so proud of that.

Son's team kept getting rained out. In fact, we were into August before they got their season over and playoffs started. His team kept winning in the playoffs. Then came the fateful night they were scheduled to play for first – on the same night all the 4-H kids were scheduled to check in their livestock for the county fair. Angst! The 4-H rules stated the kids had to be there in person with their animals to get them checked in and housed in the livestock barn. And, of course, the baseball championship game couldn't be played without the players. Our team had more 4-H kids than the other team did, so their coach graciously offered to accept our forfeit – I don't think so!

A compromise was finally worked out, and the game was played. Our team won, and now son had his own first-place trophy so daughter could quit crowing over her win – and wouldn't you know it, when he got that darned trophy home, it was a couple of inches taller than his sister's! As a parent, you just can't win!