Saturday, August 9, 2014

State Fair 2014

This was our week to visit the Indiana State Fair! What a great time we had! We all managed to get there on Tuesday and I went back on Friday with a friend to see the Home and Family Arts and the Sheep!

Oh yes! We were happy that our visit coincided with sheep events!


We happened upon the cutest event ever! The first-time sheep shower's event where kids and their sheep dress up!


This three year old was my favorite. Little Red Riding Hood and her sheep was the Big Bad Wolf!!!


This guy was pretty awesome too with his Purdue outfit. I think he took second place.


At the same time the "sheep fitting" contest was going on. The 4h-ers had an hour to prepare their sheep for the judges.


These tractor trains go around the fair all day long. On Friday we decided to enjoy the luxury of actually riding one!


Tuesday was our "BIG DAY" at the fair -- 11.5 hours. We had a great day and even enjoyed several things we had never experienced before!

I always enjoy the agricultural building. We were too early for the prize-winning pumpkins but these cabbages were impressive!


And we visited "the big cheese sculpture". The artist does a different theme each year.


The donkeys were in the horse barn on Tuesday. They were so cute!


We made it into the historic drugstore which is something I had never done before. You can order sodas at the old-fashioned soda counter.


Our friends from Michigan came down to do the fair with us!


Another new thing to us was watching a live veterinary surgery! How cool is that?! We watched them perform a hysterectomy on a female dog.


The tractors are always a draw:


And so is Little Hands on the Farm. Laura is the perfect age:


Milking the cow:


And the Pioneer Village is a perennial favorite. I love the outdoor kitchens and the vintage furnishings.


The kids love the store with the penny candy!


And we always stop at the Rug Hooking place. This year I was just mesmerized by the Rooster Rug. You should see it in person! It is an amazing work of art! I heard it took 900 hours to complete!


Some of the kids took a turn at archery:


And another new to us adventure was the DNR fishing! The kids sat through a 15 minute talk and then had another 15 minutes to fish in the pond. There were adult volunteers for each child!


David was rewarded with a fish!!!


We popped into the 4h buildings to see Rachel and Andrew's projects! Sadly, Rachel's beautiful shawl was not displayed very well but it was put right next to the Loki dolls made by one of my Knit Girls!!!!


The Dairy Barn is also tradition. Yay for friends!!!!!


The milkshakes at the Dairy Barn are HUGE! Laura could barely eat half!


And then it was time for the Midway -- two rides each and the Ferris Wheel.


It took hours and hours to decide on which rides.


But they sure enjoyed them!!!!


Laura loved the carousel! The best fun is watching the faces of the parents as they watch the grins on their kids -- I think I counted at least 5 parents grinning from ear-to-ear.


We all managed to cram into one basket on the Ferris Wheel. I always forget how scary it is to go up in that swinging basket!


Here we are on the Ferris Wheel!


I do love the views from up above! And of course all the nostalgia that comes over me when I think about my favorite "fair books" I read as a child.


Back to Friday and the sheep barn. Most of the sheep were shorn, which is kind of a pity since it was their fleeces we really wanted to see!


At the Home and Family Arts Building, without the children, we could wander at our leisure and admire and discuss all the knitting/crochet/sewing entries.

Look! Someone knitted the "Royal Wedding"!!!! How cool is that?!


My favorite quilt was this one made in the style of the 1930's. Such intricate piecing and tiny little quilting by hand.


I was also impressed with this one -- all stitching throughout done by hand.


The row of knitting and crochet:


My friend, Janet, who came with me on Friday had only ever been to the State Fair once before in her life!!! An elephant ear was therefore a must!!!


And so ends another year's adventure at the fair. Already we are looking forward to next year!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing all that with us! I think I would have lingered a long time in the needlework section. Those quilts are marvellous. It seems a shame that they are judged and ranked - so much beauty.

I used to adore going to the fun fair as a girl but my sense of balance / adventure is not what it was. The last time I was on a ferris wheel was about ten years ago at New Year's in Edinburgh. I spent the entire time clinging on to the central post with my eyes shut and trying not to have a full-fledged panic attack! Little wonder my family has not pushed me to join them on any such thing in the years since then...

HeatherMavis said...

Good old fashioned family fun.
Love your summer mantel!

Unknown said...

Erm what exactly is an Elephant's Ear? It looks nicer than I imagined by the name!!!!!

I think I'd still be in the crochet section.

Joyce F said...

I enjoyed your pictures of the state fair. That hooked Rooster is amazing.

Off topic for today but I just wanted to mention that I first heard of the Swallows and Amazons books on your website and finally got the first two books on library loan. Where were these when I was growing up. I have probably enjoyed them just as much now and hope I will be able to get the rest!

Jessica said...

Fun! I see myself rug hooking someday. The results are always so nice and they last forever. My standing wool rugs have not held up very well. I think that's why you don't see them very often. I think hooked rugs a better results for the time in.

Funny what you call an Elephant's ear we call fried dough or some people call it funnel cake. I love regional names and food. Love that stuff! I tried to find a whoopie pie or an italian sandwich in CA and people thought I was nuts ; ).