Farmer's Daughter

Modeling in the summer of '94 - outfit made
by the my sister, Sarah.

I grew up spending every last week/weekend of July at the Grundy County Fairgrounds. We weren't there for the race track, or the county fair... my family was there for the 4-H fair. If you are completely unaware of this organization, educate yourself here!

I attended my first 4-H fair in the summer of '91... I was 6 months old. There's plenty of home video footage of this event with my Dad carrying me around in the pig barn while my siblings are showing pigs. (That doesn't sound country at all, does it??) Anyway - it was a big deal when I turned 10 that I FINALLY got to be in 4-H.  I would soon regret this as I chose to enter the baking category, and a category where I made a family tree. For some reason, practicing making a coffee cake under the guidance of my Mom felt like torture at 10 - and not to mention you had to type a make up mock, well-rounded meal to serve with this dessert (oh, the drama!). Unfortunately, it was a short lived venture, but I still hold the memories spent with my siblings and cousins running around the fair grounds near and dear. Not to mention the best pork chop dinners and snow cones of my life. (Can't forget the food!)

Now that I've explained that background... Here we are present day, and the St. Mary's County Fair just happened to be going on. Mind you - they have had signs up for WEEKS all over the county advertising the event.

Cute, right??

So, obviously I wanted to go. And, oh, it did not disappoint. Upon entering, we got vouchers for free Chick-fil-A sandwiches (winning!). Knowing this was a good start, we headed to check out a few animals. Lo and behold, this is joint county fair AND 4-H fair! Being that it was a joint event, there was a TON to look at. The fairgrounds had multiple barns for all the different exhibits going on, animals, and even a little museum. In addition, there was a whole carnival aspect, and live entertainment (ie- gypsies dancing, magic show) going on as well! And obviously I took pictures....

Entering the fairgrounds!

Just posing next to a watermelon tank.

Just some award winning pigs.

And some MASSIVE chickens.

A table full of corn. Not sure of the judging criteria here.

I could have taken pictures of tractors in the museum, but
I thought this pelican was pretty cool.

Holy Gourds!

Biggest watermelons I've ever seen

Award-winning pumpkins.

And one more... a massive sunflower!

Just some unattended sheep...

....and an unattended cow

Made into the 4-H barn!

Sorry, couldn't help but laugh at the award winning hay.

And some food to end the trip! (chicken teryaki on a
stick and CHEESE FRIES!)

I'd have to say the biggest highlights of the day were towards the end: we watched a bunny rabbit judging contest (still not sure on the criteria for that, but it was fun to watch young kids moving their bunnies' tails around), and I got some cheese fries (my biggest food guilty pleasure). No comparison to Polk'a'Dot Diner in Braidwood, IL or Portillo's, but it was good enough for me. I won't mention the starter corn dogs as well....

Anyway... maybe next year we'll enter something into an exhibit! There was a contest for everything - photography, drawing, cake decorating, produce, jams & jellies, quilting, ...just to name a few.

But that's all I got for now. Stay tuned for some of the fun stuff we have already done/tried in the past 2 months (ie- the 13hr drive to Maryland, Cards vs Orieoles game, boating, Smashmouth/Uncle Kraker/Sugar Ray concert, my first time driving in downtown DC, first Crab Feast, boating again, food in Maryland...)!

- Julie