The "Dirt" on the Fair

Have you ever noticed all the "dirt" at the fair? I'm not talking about the gossip, the way the teenagers were dressing or the pig/cow/sheep manure. I'm talking about the actual dirt/mud that fills the grandstand every year. Believe it or not, I am quite amazed by the amount of dirt that is brought in every year for five days and moved around like play dough.

For the Fourth of July Fireworks, the land in front of the grandstand is as green as can be, and my family can be found doing tons of sparklers on that nice green grass. Less than a month later that sprawl of green turns into a dirt/mud bath for many various vehicles. This year it was BMX, then I'm assuming the dirt was moved and shaped again for the Monster Truck show (which was most definitely mud at the beginning). Friday saw yet again the pushing and flattening of dirt for the tractor pull, Saturday it was shaped into mounds to block in the derby cars and Sunday it was flattened or pushed to the side for the Rodeo.

I know I can be very easily amused at times, but I do find this amazing amount of dirt and how many shapes it can take in five days, quite a feat. It's almost like a child's sandbox that one day you may be digging out cars and the next be a two foot sandcastle. The even more amazing thing to me is that with all this flattening of the dirt and saying goodbye to the grass, is that next Fourth of July we will be out there with our sparklers, running around in grass as green as Ireland.

Beyond the amazing dirt of the fair, I have to say it was another wonderful five days of summer. Though my family was very disappointed to miss out on the log rolling and kids camp featured the past few years with the lumberjack show, we kept busy with many other things. We were delighted with the dueling pianos and laughed till we turned blue with the hypnotist. My daughter is beginning to think how she would do up there, and I think she's weird enough without being hypnotized. She was also engaged by the rodeo, a little bit of the tractor pull and could have spent the day with the legos. That brings up another sorry loss however, as the train sets have disappeared from the depot and been replaced with legos. While the lego booth is a great way to cool off and let your kids have a break, the trains were always a delight to see. I particularly was looking forward to it this year because we had just taken a train ride in Boone and went over the 156 foot bridge, of which there was a photo of in the depot. But with the trains gone, also was the picture.

A couple of disappointments did bring down our fair fun a little, but we still anxiously await The best five days of summer in 2011!