State Fair 9-28-10

The Tuesday Group goes to the State Fair

28 Sept. 2010

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Rain the night before and morning of our scheduled day at the Virginia State Fair did much to dampen our spirits for our proposed outing. But the rain stopped and the clouds vanished and the 2010 State Fair in Doswell opened to blue skies and sunny faces. We rendezvoused at Young McDonald’s Farm and greeted each other amongst the alpacas. Fair goers included Bruce and Margaret J, Vic and Margaret P, Jane O, Sandy B, Phyllis, Billy B, Trinh and Patricia. Munching on Kettle Corn (10 am is a little too early for some-but not the Tuesday group) we headed for the Festival Loop. Our destination was Rosaire’s Racing Pigs but along the way we admired the sights, sounds and smells of the fair. Every food you can possibly imagine was available—most of it deep fried. Fried twinkies, fried ho-hos, fried oreos, fried pickles, fried snickers, and fried ice cream. There were sausages, gyros, hot dogs, corn dogs, burgers, barbeque, pork parfaits, pizza, turkey legs, chicken wings, chicken fingers and pig sliders (whatever they are). We stopped to say “Hi” to fellow TATCers Van and Kama at the fried ice cream booth and then made our way over to the Racing Pigs. Despite intense competition, Margaret was chosen to root for pig #2 in the first race. Her whooping, hollering and squealing did the trick because her pig won! She went hog wild at the grandstand as she received all sorts of wonderful gifts (on behalf of her pig) including 10 lottery tickets, which Bruce proceeded to scratch off. (He can be so boarish at times). Trinh and Margaret each tried to be the official rooter for the next event, a pot-bellied pig race, but the emcee claimed they were not pot-bellied and opted to choose another in our group who was wearing red which may or may not have given the illusory appearance of a prominent abdominal area. Needless to say, the individual in red snorted at the insinuation and proceeded to cheer on her charge “Tyrone the Terrible”. Unfortunately, Tyrone did not triumph that day and despite a profound porcine effort was unable to beat the competition. Races done, Margaret was called upon to compete against the other humans whose pigs had won. She mounted an enormous inflatable pig (as did the other contestants) and hammed it up as she bounced and somersaulted down the track. Following in the hoof prints of Tyrone, victory also escaped her that day as her competition had obviously ridden inflatable pigs before.

Leaving the pigs behind we headed over to “Masters of the Chainsaw” where the buff sculptor was carving a horses head out of a block of wood. Our attention was diverted though to Calvin and Hobbs, two enormous deep brown oxen standing nearby. We went over to say “hello” seeing our reflections in their big, dark, soft watery eyes. They were young Brown Swiss/Holstein mixes that were nearly a ton and gentle as lambs. They shared a yoke made of maple which the handler assured was not too heavy for them. Our next stop was “K-9s in Flight”, a dog act of ADHD canines in frenzied pursuit of frisbees. Watching these dogs leap and spin and flip made us all very hungry so lunch was next up. We feasted on an assortment of hot dogs, corn dogs, sausages, gyros, kabobs, etc, etc. And some followed the savory with some homemade ice cream by the John Deere tractor ice cream maker. Nothing churns like a Deere. After that we wandered through some of the exhibits seeing all the latest advances in food processors, carpet cleaners, cheap jewelry and homemade soap. Bruce and Margaret found a deal on sunglasses and we all managed to resist the endless sea of candy. We then made our way over to the livestock arena to watch a performance by some teens and their Chincoteague ponies. One of the ponies was the great granddaughter of Misty of Chincoteague! Wandering back towards the rodeo arena, we stopped to speak to some students of an Arizona horsemanship school when Bruce got this gleam in his eye. In a dream-like state he walked towards the arena finally stopping at the mechanical bull pen. We couldn’t believe our eyes as he paid the man his $5 and got up on that bull. Bruce was a true giddyup ride ‘em cowboy and he sat that bull until the rotten scoundrel bucked a good one and threw him off. Not satisfied though, the raging beast tried to gore Bruce, catching him in the leg with one of his horns! No blood flowed and Bruce will live to ride another day! After that we made a quick trip back to the Agricultural area to see how many different kinds of pigeons there are and to get more to eat (fried ice cream). Then back to the rodeo arena to watch the Classical Stock Seat School of Arizona students demonstrate basic horsemanship. The instructor yelled a lot and we didn’t care for him. We did like Cody who was blond, about 20 years old and very pretty (think young Simon Baker).

Some left after this while others stayed to eat more and watch the bull riding.

Bruce reports:

Yes, we stayed later and saw all of the bull riding and the sheep riding, with 6&7 year old children! You should have seen them hanging on to their sheep. The sheep would come out with the kid on their back and run as fast as their little legs would take them and most of the kids would ride about 200 ft before they fell off. Two or three fell off right at the gate, but it was fun to watch. I believe a girl won with the longest ride. We ate one more time, and also saw part of a show, with a band and a girl singing. During the rodeo, one cowboy got hurt when he fell on his shoulder and head. He was knocked out for a few seconds and it looked like the bull stepped on him but he was O. K. We saw him walking around before we left. I guess he couldn't ride as good as I did. Did I ride for the 8 seconds? I never did hear the buzzer, guess my head was too far in the rubber padding to hear. (Actually, Bruce stayed on for an amazing 50 seconds! pn) My leg is still black and blue, but it was worth it, I have always wanted to ride that bull and I did for a little while. Carol and Dewey think I rode a real bull and I told them you had it all on your camera and I would show it to them someday.

What an amazing day at the Fair. A fun day where dreams were realized and hopes achieved. Business as usual for the Tuesday Group!

Phyllis

To see Phyllis' pictures including the bull riding champ Bruce, Margaret's winning first prize at the Pig Race and various incriminating pictures click on the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/crashneumann/VAStateFair02?authkey=Gv1sRgCOPtvc_3hre53wE&feat=directlink#

P.S. this album is best viewed using the manual advance rather than the slideshow option.