I don’t know about you but these words always bring back awesome childhood memories. Back in the day, I grew up living right next to what we called the 4-H barns. Better yet, we had country cousins who came to town and stayed with us all week to participate in the County Fair activities. Being town kids, we didn’t understand anything about the actual event other than it was a time to have some summer fun with our cousins. As 4-H Club farm kids, it had a whole different meaning for our cousins and I can’t imagine all the preparations their parents must have made to get the animals loaded up along with a passel of kids packed for a week away from home.
I remember my mother, along with my Aunt Joan, doing a lot of cooking that week. Mom remembers cooking lots of sweet corn and my Grandma Adelman made ice cream buckets of potato salad to make everyone was amply fed and watered. In addition, we enjoyed plenty of Fair food; there was a barbeque night and I remember particularly enjoying the orange creamsickles sold at the food stands. My cousin, Mike, always went into town and bought a jug of A & W Root Beer that along with a bucket of vanilla ice cream made tasty root beer floats. Finally, I remember my boy cousins taking care of and showing their cattle although, as a town scaredy cat, I kept my distance. I am sure my girl cousins entered items on the home economics side but I don’t remember any of that.
Fast forward to today when Paul and I attended what is now called Achievement Days in Milbank. We went specifically to see the children of some friend’s show their goats. The kids did a great job of managing their respective goats which wasn’t an easy task given they seem to have a mind of their own; the goats that is. I took time to wander thru the various barns viewing dairy cows, beef cattle, pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks and rabbits. I tried to communicate with a few but they didn’t seem particularly receptive to my animal calls. I also wandered around the Exhibit Building viewing food entries, clothing, art, and photography, the later which is quite popular these days. In some areas, everyone is eligible to enter items in their county fairs, including adults. A friend of mine in Lac qui Parle County does just that entering all manner of garden items she has grown and craft items she has made; she loves collecting purple ribbons!
Although I am sure rural county fairs in the heartland have gotten a lot smaller over the years, I fully appreciate how important they are for young people in developing various life skills and furthering their appreciation of rural life and/or self-sufficiency. Of course, we shouldn’t forget the sense of freedom kids feel frolicking down the animal aisles, scrambling over fences and tearing around the fairgrounds with their friends and/or cousins. They say it’s never too late to have or revisit a happy childhood so maybe next year I’ll join them. I’ve got a head start as I already know a couple of them by name.