Saturday, August 14, 2004 - A "Fair" Day

I took the little ones to the Erie County Fair today. For those readers who are not locals (most of you), the Erie County Fair is a big thing. It's not just a little hick thing starring vegetables and hogs (though they are there), but this huge spawling event that also includes lots of exhibit buildings, crafts, a Native American village,a large midway, lots of free entertainment, and plenty of non-free (but not too expensive) first-rate (ok, second-rate) concerts and motor events. Over 12 days the fair brings in about 1 million people, which also happens to be the approximate population of the county. But enough plugging the fair, you're not coming anyway.

We arrived in the late morning, making very good time after it occured to me that I could avoid the main route and sneak in through some back streets. Yee haw! It probably saved me 30 minutes, even with the extra 'drive time'.

Within minutes of arrival, Rascal was complaining. "No, I don't want to go in there!" "I don't want to see that!" "I don't want to see the horses. I don't like horses!" Ugh. Well, I forced him to go look at vegetables and then we went to look at all the animals.

Zipper loved the animals. Ok, he was a little scared of the horses, but if you're confronted with an animal whose head is bigger than all of you, wouldn't you be a little intimidated? He was so cute when he was walking through the rabbit barn, stopping at each cage, pointing and saying "Bunny Rabbit!". Both the boys really loved feeding the animals at the petting zoo. I'll admit it, I like to do it too.

They have a Moo-ternity Ward set up at the fair with cows due to deliver during the fair. We arrived at the barn to see a 1-hour-old calf, still wet from his recent birth. We also got to see some baby bunnies - they were just the cutest little puffballs!

Lunchtime rolled around pretty quickly, and we had just picked up something to eat when it started pouring. We ended up hiding in a pig barn to eat lunch (oh so sanitary of course). Then we just ran from barn to barn while the rain continued.

But then we ran out of barns, and the rain was still coming down hard. So I made a decision and we dashed off to Stroller Square, a little tented break area for the kiddies with nursing/diaper change facilities and lots of toys. We ended up spending 1 1/2 hours there until the rain finally let up enough to venture out again. I was annoyed - a few AM showers my ass!

I think the highlight for both the boys was the pony ride. They both really loved it. Wish I could have taken a picture, but I was too busy holding Zipper up on the pony.

After that we did a few other things, but the big highlight for me was seeing a free show by the Peking Acrobats. If they ever come to your town, do not miss them! They were just amazing! If I go back to the fair again this year I am definitely going to catch another show.

Anyway, we saw a lot of animals and tractors, ate a bunch of junk, got really wet, and had a good time!