Out at the Fair
Wednesday, 16 July 2003 by Jacob TomawI went to the Dane County Fair tonight. It is good. It is not as large as I expected. Much to my disappointment the dome was not full of 4-H projects, in fact it is not part of the fair at all. I am likely underestimating the Dane County Fair and overestimating the Vermillion County Fair but I think this fair is only 2-3 times larger than VCo?s. The projects are poorly arranged and in an air-conditioned building. What is the fun of looking at projects, if you are not sweating to death? There are in a few rooms of the convention center that is on the grounds. I also noticed that there are no Champion, Grand Champion, or their reserves. There is much more was in the livestock than in far north haute. In the barns, there are many farm and club banners, but there are also FFA banners. There are many of the silly animals like horses, goats, sheep, poultry, etc. There are a lot of hogs. There is much more cattle. This being Wisconsin the vast majority of these are dairy. There is also an automated milking station. This is used for exhibit purposes, but I assume that the animals are probably so conditioned to the machine that being hand milked would disturb them.
Through out the whole fair I could not wipe this large grin off my face. This is because I realized that 4-H folks are the same everywhere, at least in the mid-west. I heard 4-Hers and there parents disputing the judges finding, complaining that others had not followed the exact text of the rules, or that their projects were displayed incorrectly. I saw people who just as easily could have been Tomaws, Bartons, or McFalls. In the barns, the folks looked just like Hickses, Morgans, or Hills.