Kentucky State Fair

There are a million great reasons to live in Louisville, but one of my favorites is the fact that we host the Kentucky State Fair each year. When I was younger this was the highlight of the summer. It still remains in my top 5. If you’re a professional fair-goer like myself you know that the fair requires at least 6 hours to be seen properly and if you’re really hardcore you’ll devote an entire day (9am to midnight). With kids whose feet give out a bit faster than mine and don’t seem quite as interested in homemade strawberry preserves and quilts, we limit it to a bit less than I did as a kid.

So upon arriving we see a nice big sign to greet us.

Adjacent to the fairgrounds is Six Flags so there are quality roller coasters if you want to see that corndog again.

We also see our first food booths and begin planning lunch. Hmmm…will it be a turkey leg, or this year’s new offering ‘pork butt on a stick’ ? I vote we go inside and think about it a bit.

Once inside we get a schedule so we don’t miss quality entertainment like the rooster crowing contest or the gospel quartets. Back in the day my favorite event to watch was the pipe smoking contest. Now I am sad that I can’t take up the pipe and enter myself. Damn those PC police!

As appetizing as the pork butt sounded, i usually like to give my business to our state producers. Here are this year’s top two choices:

Almost every year I go with the country ham sandwich. This year I decide to be a rebel and go with the trout. It was delicious.

We move on to the county booths. Most of our 120 counties have a booth where they promote their little slice of Kentucky. Lots of freebies for the kids. There is also a large booth for the KY agriculture dept and the KY Dept of Fish and Wildlife. I always chat with the game officers and hope they’ll tell me where all the ducks will be this season. It never works.

Then we move on to various crafts. Of course there are quilts. LOTS of quilts. This is one of about 10 rows.

Canned goods. If you look close you can see red and blue ribbons stamped on some of the info cards. that’s the good stuff, or as one old dude at a farmer’s market called his homemade salsa, ‘that’s the boss’.

There are also cakes, breads, pies, etc. This year we were going to try and enter our Benedictine spread (Google it…it’s fantastic on a bacon sandwich) but we couldn’t find the ding-dang entry form in the catalog. Turns out it goes under ‘cooking with dairy’. Next year baby!

Then on to the animals. I love cows. When I was a kid I wanted to have a cattle farm. Now I kind of wish I had become a farm vet. It seems like the coolest job. These cows are treated better than my dog, and that’s saying something. Their owners sleep right next to them for most of the week. Bringing animals to the fair is a BIG DEAL for the kids out in the state, plus they get to start school a bit later. And maybe some day Charlotte will lay her eggs there and Wilbur will take them home with him….oh sorry…I love that book.

My youngest had a little meltdown with the rabbits. She wants one as a pet. REALLY bad. And they had hundreds. All for sale. I tried explaining to her that in our house rabbits are dinner, not pets. The dog agreed with me. She says we’re mean.

There are also pigeons. I’m not so in to the pigeons. i don’t even have allergies and they make me sneezy. And I feel like I need a shower afterwards.

I also wanted some goats when I was a kid. My dad said they would eat anything. I had fantasies of feeding them tin cans, phone books and old leather boots. And never having to cut the grass again. (Was one of the Sweet Pickles a goat?)

So that’s the highlights of the fair. For the record, my kids do not ride rides on the midway. I don’t trust tilt-the-whirls on the backs of tractor trailers. Every year they say I’m mean. Get over it chicks.

We also didn’t get an ‘elephant ear’ which is my favorite fair dessert. They’re made just like a doughnut, but in sort of a saucer configuration. I like mine with cinnamon on top. But we did eat fries covered in cheese and chili. And other things I won’t mention.

The moral of the story is that I did 4.5 miles on the treadmill this week. 5 more and I think I have evened things out. But we’re going to an Oktoberfest tomorrow night… Brats and beer… Make that 10 more miles.