Fried food on a stick, Ferris wheels and whirling rides, large crowds, farm animals galore-- oh my! That seems to sum up the Kansas State Fair well in 140 characters or less. But that's only the surface. I inherited my love for the State Fair from my parents. As a child it was a big deal for my mom to qualify for the state fair and get to take the 5 hour trip to "western Kansas" to show off her 4-H projects. My parents have also in recent years have started attending out-of-state state fair by going to the Nebraska and Iowa state fairs. In my life I think there may have been seven or eight state fairs that I missed while in college or grad school. Even though I have been over 20 times, and it truthfully hasn't changed much, it is still a highlight for me. Growing up in northwest Kansas Arthur never made the trek to the state fair in his early life. His first experience was on one of our dates and I think he thoroughly enjoys it each year. This year he didn't get to go since he was spending the weekend with his family since he had to be in the area for work.
Since Arthur was out of town, I decided to round up a group of my friends to go with me. My friends Rachel and Delores live in Hutchinson and are experts in fair going. They knew the best stands for funnel cake and other foods and which shows or exhibits were worth our time since we were on a tight schedule. I picked up Hillary on the way and we arrived in Hutch at 9am to be the crowds. Also we wanted to make sure to see the miniature donkey and draft horse shows. There wasn't a huge crowd at the fair grounds yet so we made a beeline to the Pride of Kansas Building which is always a zoo. If any building on the fair grounds is the epitome of what the state fair is it is the Kansas Building. Here we ooohed and aaaahed over the butter sculpture, were amazed by the ginormous watermelon and pumpkins, and got our free recipe books from the wheat commission booth. The pumpkin this year was the largest ever for the state fair contest breaking the scale at over 1050 pounds. Rachel, Hillary, and I would go to the state fair together in elementary school and junior high. At those ages we always wanted to get as many free pencils as we could. As adults who go grocery shopping our hot items we looked for this year were reusable shopping bags.
We then headed back to watch the draft horse competition. We watch several classes of driving-- pleasure driving, farm wagon, youth drivers, but our favorites were the 4 and 6 horse hitch. It was amazing to see such large animals with such power come together to work as a single unit moving as one-- literally, the teams had synchronized hoof strikes. After watching several classes we began to understand (just slightly) what separates a good team from a great team and were often able to pick the top 2 teams the same as the judge. We discussed the amount of time and energy that it would take to care for and train a team of draft horses. We then discussed the amount of money this type of hobby would take. Just feeding one of the horses seems like it could break the bank let along a herd of 1500 pound horses. We considered the amount of equipment-- harness, wagons, etc it would take as well as how in the world do you move 6 horses, a wagon, and equipment to competitions. These people must love what they do. It just happens to turn out the the Budweiser Clydesdale were also at the fair. The wagon hitches 8 horses and they travel with 2 extra just in case. It takes 2 semis to move the horses and another semi for all of the equipment. One harness weighs about 120 pounds. It was also impressive to watch the drivers handle their rigs. With the 6-hitch they had 6 leads, three in each hand to try to control several tons of horses with small leather straps. Later we watch the one and two horse team obstacle course. In this event a driver had to navigate his team through a series of cones and obstacles-- a figure-8 pattern, crossing tarps and boards, and having to back a team between cones. I'm not sure I could have backed my car through these cones (I avoid parallel parking like the plague) but some teams accomplished it with such ease. Between the horses that were competing and watching as they hitched up the Budweiser Clydesdale, it was impressive to see these horses put their training to use. The Clydesdale had hundreds of people crowded around the team with vehicles or other horses passing right next to them, people shouting, horns honking, while these horses stood motionless, just waiting for their work to begin.
In between watching the draft horse competition we did other fair activities. First, we had to eat fair food. Several of us tried a new food--jaffles. This turned out to be what I would call a pie iron-- meat, cheese, and sauce between bread that is toasted. We had to also split a funnel cake since you can't go to the fair without getting something fried. We also had ice cream-- twice. We picked up little containers of free ice cream and then at the end of our fair going stopped by the Dairy Bar for real Call Hall ice cream. It's a good thing we walked all over creation since we ate our way across the fair. We discussed that as kids it seemed like miles from one end of the fair to another but today it wasn't a big deal to go back and forth probably 5 times. The train at the fair also seemed to be much bigger as a youngster-- why is everything shrinking?
Of course the main purpose of the fair in my book is the exhibits. We checked out the 4-H building-- my old stomping ground where I remember giving a team demonstrating at the age of 9 with my younger brother. We gave the demonstrating multiple times that day and during one no one had stopped to watch so the crowd was limited to my mother. My brother, the ham, decided to begin to ad lib which threw his stick-to-the-script sister for a loop. Other 4-H memories included bringing floral arrangements and doing horticulture judging contests. Next stop was the domestic arts building to admire the needle work, quilts, baking, cake decorating, and cookie jars. The hours put into the quilting projects baffles my mind. I also really enjoy looking at the visual arts building with the drawings, paintings, and photography. We also had our round through the birthing center to admire the brand-spanking new sheep and piglets.
When I told people at work with week I was going to the state fair some asked me why I keep going since nothing ever changes. I think that is some of the beauty of the fair--it the tradition. What would happen if all of a sudden they decided not to do the butter sculpture next year. I would want my money back. It is also amazing to see people come together from all over the state for one event. It never fails that you will run into several people you know and haven't seen for years at the state fair. What I took away from the state fair this year was that it is a celebration of craftsmanship. If you have read this blog for long you have probably heard Arthur and I go on and on about marveling over how something is made or incredible skills and talents people have with different areas of work. At the fair I saw the fine stitching to make beautiful quilts, the work of someone with a creative eye who turned normal everyday objects into art with a click of a shutter, the skills of woodworkers turning raw lumber into fine furniture (I just realized we didn't even see the chainsaw artist), or the power of a group of horses working together listening to the subtle commands from a driver. I'm sure entries at county fairs and state fairs across the country are dwindling since I don't think we value workmanship anymore. Instead we will order a bed spread online, click an Instagram shot, and put together furniture that comes in a box requiring only a screwdriver to assemble. No one seems to have the time or patience or skills to do a quality task just for the pleasure and pride of creating it with your own hands. I didn't mean to get on a soap box about that. I'm just as guilty with picking the easy way out. My challenge this week is to either appreciate something that is fine craftsmanship or even try to create a work of your own. Maybe you could even take home a ribbon at the fair next year. Omnia Vincit Amor.
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