State Fair Weekend

I look forward to the Kentucky State Fair every year. I eat pork chop sandwiches, check out the odd frisbee or balloon blowing exhibition, but mostly survey the cream of this year’s agricultural crop. I never fail to be amazed. Who knew the Commonwealth of Kentucky produced so much stuff? I could spend an entire morning taking stock of the poultry alone, to say nothing all the different types of goats, dairy cattle, rabbits, pigs and mules (which can be absolutely huge, by the way). For a city boy like me, the fair is a place of utter wonder. I mean just check out these pumpkins, will you?

I didn’t catch a weight on the winning squash, though I remember last year’s weighed in at just under a thousand pounds. I spoke to a fellow who was entered in this year’s contest, and he told me that when a big pumpkin like this is experiencing a growth spurt it can gain over a pound in weight every hour. Mighty impressive, though it occurred to my that my youngest daughter would have no trouble keeping pace given unfettered access to a corn dog stand.

For obvious reasons I make a point to drop in and survey the results of the various baking competitions, though I always leave that part of the fair dissatisfied. Yes, all the stuff looks very pretty behind the rows of glass cases, but dammit, I want to taste the blue ribbon pies and biscuits, not just look at them. Maybe I can work out some sort of a scam where I can help judge the stuff next year. Otherwise the whole thing is just an exercise in frustration.

On which note I couldn’t help but be impressed by this entry in the fish tank exhibition:

I was gratified to see that this forward-thinking design earned the entrant 4th prize. “Cake Fixes Everything.” Those are deep and important words, friends.