My brother, his wife and two girls were visiting from New Jersey last week, and since the Ingham County Fair was over, we went to Jackson County. We arrived late morning, which was perfect because it was right after the stalls were cleaned and before the rides began jerking kids back and forth and making them scream and think about barfing.
We started off in a building that reminded me that fairs are partially about winning ribbons. There were ribbons for quilts, for the best vegetable, the weirdest vegetable, the best pie, the best cookies and cupcakes, and the best of what I think were just old baking and farm tools. As we were inspecting the winning art work, the loud speaker came alive to invite us to a contest for a horse costume contest. There were two entries and they both got ribbons.
After the horse costume contest, we wandered passed trailers with cotton candy, huge pretzels, elephant ears, and ice cream. We got pulled into booths overflowing with cowboy hats and belts, and clothing you can’t find anywhere else, like the multi-colored zip-up, sweat-shirt Holly bought that was made in Nepal. We also got sucked in to the free face painting, which I didn’t notice (in small print on the sign) was done by evangelists who sell religion while they paint. I got a gray whale painted on my face. It looked like my younger niece’s.
Fairs are also about paying $5 to a carny to try something like throwing 3 balls into laundry baskets, only to walk away with nothing. Holly volunteered to fill that role for us and I think she learned something.
Mostly though, for me fairs are about animals. Lots of animals. It’s the part I really like once I get over one of my problems.
See, I hate seeing animals in small cages unable to do more than wiggle around a wee bit. The chickens, rabbits and pigs were all in small cages, while the calves were tied up with just enough room to step one foot in any direction. There was one calf with her leg wrapped around her own chain, and because she couldn’t move at all and was standing on three legs, I tapped the shoulder of one of the four people sitting nearby and asked if perhaps they might untangle the poor thing. After the young girl freed the calf’s leg, I thanked her and said I liked their animals and how they took good care of them. In fact, when I looked around, I realized the barns and animals were all amazing clean.
One reason for the clean cows was the “cow wash” as we called it, where kids could wash their calves before showing them. I found it quite endearing to see a calf on a leash cooling off with a bath on a hot summer day.
When we got to the horse barn, a lady offered to let my nieces stand by a horse to get their pictures taken. The horses were calm enough to pose for a photograph. And clearly, the lady loved her giant horses enough to share them with us.
In fact, I realized that these are the lucky animals, the ones pampered and loved by their owners. They’re not treated like I do my two spoiled dogs, perhaps, yet they are treated far better than the average domestic farm animal simply raised to eat, or, in the case of horses, to ride. These animals were stuck in small but very clean cages or on small tethers temporarily while they waited to strut their stuff, and so city folk and suburbanites like me could appreciate them. And take photos.
The real gem at the Jackson County Fair was the birthing barn. Inside, we found baby rabbits, baby ducks and a baby chicken, all being carefully watched by people who were selective about the visitors they let hold their fuzzy wonders. Holly got to hold this duckling.
In the same barn was a man that held up his lambs for people of all ages to pet and hold.
What brought us to the barn was the announcement that piglets were being born. It took me several minutes to work through the crowd, and I got to the delivery end of the sow just in time to see a baby pig fly out, bounce off the pen and onto the sawdust. The man who had attended to the lambs was right there to pick up the piglet, wipe it off and show it where to get its first nourishment.
We were at the fair for several hours and spent most of the time with animals. Somewhere around noon, the rides started up and with it, the screaming of kids having fun and thinking about barfing. But the screams, the “oohs” of the people watching baby pigs being born, the clacking of horses’ hooves, the calls of the carnies, and an occasional deep voice over the intercom are all part of the cacophony of noises found nowhere else but at a fair. And the smells of cheesy food mixed with the smell of well-kept animals mix together to create smells found only at a fair.
I was glad my brother wanted to go to the fair and that my nieces primarily wanted to see the animals. The Jackson County Fair exceeded my expectations in many ways. The folks should be proud of the people that handle and care for the animals, keep the barns and grounds clean, and make the fair fun.
Oh, and thanks to the cows for the great ice cream. The large scoops were the best and tastiest deal at the fair.
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