The county fair

It was Labor Day weekend and I was 17
Bought a coke and some gasoline
And I drove out to the county fair
(Tim McGraw, Something Like That)

It was not Labor Day weekend, nor am I still 17 (whew, thank goodness!). But I did go to the county fair, the Williamson County Fair, last night. The county where I’ve lived for, what, almost 17 years now? Wow. Home sweet home to me. To the tune of Rocky Top: Good ol’ Williamson, Williamson County (oh that was painful…but it’s my blog, I get to make up songs if I want).

I’d never been before and figured I’d check it out. Plus, I found a buy one get one free admission coupon. I’m all about the coupons these days. I had a coupon for a free appetizer on Wednesday nights only at Dan McGuiness, so I got me a free appetizer before hitting up the fair. My date (Clint) did not like any of the seafood appetizer options, so we opted for the buffalo chickens skewers. Apparently the skewers were marinated in tobacco sauce and were too hot to handle. I dared Clint to see if he could eat one without drinking any water. He did. Oh, the self control.

We arrived at the fair after 8. The first event we saw were dogs trained to catch Frisbees. The dog lover that I am, I highly enjoyed this event. But not as much as I enjoyed the Ferris wheel. The night before Clint watched The Notebook for his very first time with me and there is a scene where the two main characters are at a fair and the leading lady is on the Ferris wheel with another guy but her future sweetheart hangs over her to get her attention and to get her to agree to go on a date with him. It’s a pretty gutsy scene but his purpose is accomplished.

Our Ferris wheel ride was sweet – no daring stunts necessary. Storms were predicted and we could see the dark clouds and white city lights in the distance. Ferris wheels are my favorite rides because I don’t do well on the rides that spin around and around and up and down and back and forth. I never, ever enjoyed tire swings growing up, so the spinning rides to me are just extensions of my negative childhood memories of feeling like I’ve acquired vertigo.

Next there was a lovely fireworks show. Who can be blasé about fireworks? Fireworks are awesome! And when watching them I find it absolutely necessary to comment on which ones are especially striking.

I also rode the carousel. Yes, I was the biggest person on the ride who was not accompanying a small child. I rode a white horse with a pink saddle in my polka dot dress and was very tickled to be doing so. It was delightful.

My favorite part of the fair came next. We watched a pig race, a duck race, a goat race, and a pot belly pig race. You know you’re at a county fair when a “must see” event is the animal races. The pot bellied pigs were hilarious – they would run, then stop. Run, then stop, snorting all the way. Watching ducks race was pretty funny too. Since they were the only critters on two legs, it actually resembled a foot race…just with waddling and quacking.

We then went to the petting zoo and petted goats, sheep, and a camel. There were porcupines, kangaroos, llamas, and tortoises, but they were out of reach and not to be petted. When I was little, probably around 5, I was at a petting zoo petting a goat. My mom told me I started singing to it and was in my own little world (big surprise). The goat then head butted me and knocked me over and I started crying. Poor little Ali.