Cyndi's Two Cents

Summertime entertainment

Commentary.

County fair season is officially underway across the heart of our country.  It does one’s heart good to see communities come together in support of youth, education, agriculture and some good old fashioned summertime entertainment.

For those of you who do not like the smell of wood shavings, sawdust, cows, pigs, sheep and rabbits, you are missing out on one of my favorite things about the county fair. There is just something special in the air at the county fair!  Take a walk through the livestock barns and wander over to the arena where the team penning competition is underway.  Stroll through the carnival with its array of cotton candy, corn dog, and popcorn stands. Take in the floriculture and horticulture exhibits and for heaven’s sake, don’t miss the baked goods!

For young people in my neck of the woods, curing a ham to enter in competition at the county fair is almost a rite of passage.  Meatiness and aroma are the two most important characteristics a judge looks for in a show ham.  Stepping into a large room with more than a hundred cured hams on display is an olfactory overload (but in a very good way.)

When the day winds down and you take your seat in the grandstand, exhaust from the tractor pull hangs low in the air. Ah, the smells of the county fair!

A favorite event of mine at the county fair is the livestock showmanship competition. Although the showmanship competition class usually occurs after each respective livestock species competition is complete, a good judge is at work throughout the day, looking to see which exhibitors possess the appearance and behavior of true showmen.

Being a good showman is presenting an animal in a manner that will develop the most favorable impression on the judge. Even if you did not receive a trophy or a blue ribbon for the livestock you exhibited, you can still be recognized as the best showman. Not every child can have Grand Champion, and somebody has to come in last in class. Showmanship teaches a child to take responsibility, win graciously, and lose with dignity.

The unsung heroes of the summer are those volunteers who spend their “summer vacation” at the county fair organizing entries in the floriculture, pantry stores and culinary departments in a stuffy building on a hot summer morning. The volunteers who flip burgers in the food stand, take tickets at the grandstand or prepare the track for the horse show, tractor pull or 4-wheeler races deserve our thanks.

County fairs, to me, are about fellowship with those with whom we share common interests and those we don’t very well at all. The grandstand entertainment or the floriculture exhibits might be the only thing some people go to the fair to see and do, but most of us go because of the sense of community we find there.