This past weekend was the annual Isle of Wight County Fair. We always love to go and walk around the fairgrounds, eat fair food, look at the baked goods and crafts and watch the animal judging. It was a gorgeous sunny fall day on Saturday, so we decided to pay a visit to the fairgrounds.
As we parked and started walking towards the tents, we could already feel the excitement building, hear roosters crowing and smell all the fried food. We decided to start at the goat judging tent.
We live in the heart of southeastern Virginia farm country, so 4-H is alive and well and it’s refreshing to see a new generation so passionate about raising animals. Of course the goats were loving all the attention from kids and adults alike while they were waiting to be judged. I think we spent the longest time in the goat tent. They are just SO darned cute and they love attention. Although from what I have heard about goats, they are a lot more fun when they are someone else’s because they will eat everything in sight, escape from where ever you try and contain them and do always want attention.
I have to admit that the miniature (or baby?) cows were really cute too. Their eyes are just SO expressive. We left the livestock tents and visited the craft tent which was chock full of knit and crocheted items, candles, soap, honey, baked goods, canned goods and a host of other country items.
The judging had already been done on the jams, jellies, preserves and other canned goods. Since I have just in the past week taken a stab at trying canning preserves, I can fully appreciate the work that goes into this. The quilt competition is always one of my favorites. There were so many beautiful entries as usual, so the judges’ had their work cut out for them. After making our way through the crafts, we went back outside to work our way past the various vendors selling food.
Although the funnel cakes smelled good, as did the pulled pork BBQ, we passed on the food and settled on just splitting a cup of fresh-squeezed lemonade. I do love fried green tomatoes, the fried Oreos, Rice Crispies and Twinkies really weren’t all that appealing!
Finally it was time for my favorite part – the poultry tent. We had been listening to the roosters crowing for the better part of the afternoon anyway, so there was no mistaking where they were.
I know I enjoyed walking the rows of rooster cages more than my husband, but even he admitted that some of the roosters were mighty impressive. In addition to the roosters (and every breed from the tiny Serama to the huge Jersey Giant and everything in between was represented), there were hens, turkeys, geese, and ducks.
Of course I loved looking at all the ducks also. I was really interested in these two gorgeous brown ducks with dark gray heads but they were already sold.
Eventually we arrived at the final exhibition – the Grand Champion of the entire fair. To my sheer delight it was a rooster! This gorgeous white cochin won the purple ribbon.
My first thought after admiring him was to wonder how his owners keep him that clean and white. He was absolutely gorgeous and looked to be reveling in his victory!
We had a wonderful time at the fair, as always. It’s so great to feel a part of the local farming community. We make it a point to go each year to the local fair and sometimes make it up to Richmond for the State Fair also. This fall check to see if there is a country fair near you. Even many urban areas are starting to hold their own fairs to give city and suburban kids a chance to experience at least an afternoon of the ‘country life’.
Thanks for sharing my visit to the County Fair. Head over to my blog to enter to win this Best of Show Shampoo Kit donated by The Egg Carton Store. CLICK HERE TO ENTER.
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