The LCF is considered one of the top county fairs in Ohio. Some may consider Labor Day the end of summer but I kind of think Fair is the end of summer....it can be a bittersweet time as I really like summer and don't want to see it go quite yet.
I have always like going to the fair and have fond memories it and John has liked it too....and it's a good thing because he's lived by it most of his life (he grew up next door to where we are now). Nathan has really like it too and was even on the Lorain Co Jr. Fair Board for a few years before graduating. Our farm in part (well the animal part anyway) started somewhat because of the fair (it was 4-H broiler projects) and our farm name stems from the fair, so fair time is a special event for us. We don't live over there like some others do that we know of, but we do go often.
We say our cattle (and chickens) are quite cultured as they get to experience many things that most (cattle that is) only dream of. How many cattle do you know that get to listen to live bagpipes (during the Ohio Scottish Games in June), get to watch fireworks (July 4th), listen to steam engines run and their whistles toot (LaGrange Steam Engine Club Show-Sept), watch hot air balloons sail over head (Wellington Balloon Festival-June) or hear the roar of the jet powered tractor pulls and smell fair food (LCF)? We even still have one of our original cows that took 2 trips over to the fair with Nathan for 4-H showing when she was a bit younger....which, by the way, one year she and her calf won Grand Champion in the cow/calf division.
For the most part, being by the fairgrounds hasn't been too bothersome. It is quiet most of the time. The only time it can get hairy is, of course, during fair time. The traffic on our road increases greatly (one of the entrances to the fair is just north of us off our road) and with large crowds gathering in one area, you never know what will happen. People aren't too smart sometimes.
When John was younger, he said that there was a horse running around the neighborhood and down the RR tracks after the fair--an escapee. We did see a peacock running around one time....it was after the circus had been there. A foreign fancy rooster showed up one morning too...I think someone dropped it off as a 'now unwanted fair project' and thought we'd give it a good home--thanks. And a few years ago, someone's 4-H market beef project got loose before fair started and out of the fairgrounds running all over our area and ended up jumping into our cattle pasture with our beef cattle.....guess he didn't want to be burger just yet....he never did make it back to the fair.
Quite a few years ago we found a 2 man tent in our woods in the Fall after fair--we think it was some kids who were going to tent at the fair but when they came back after setting it up, they couldn't find it anymore. But the one we still shake our heads at the most is: about 2 years ago when we got home from a camping trip the Monday fair started, we noticed from our kitchen window there was something white out back. Upon investigating, it was a big family-size tent set up by one of the fair traffic employees. I guess he didn't want to use the camping area that the fair provides and decided to use our free area instead. The kicker was that he had set it up in our cattle pasture....with cattle near by! The guy said that it was dark when he set up and in the morning noticed he was in a cattle pasture....and maybe not on fairgrounds property either. I don't know how you can not know this when he (they--we think he brought the whole family) would of had to go through cattle fencing to get there. They did moved out.
I guess we wait and see what happens this year--uneventful would be nice.
Well enough of our adventures with the fairgrounds...we hope you come out and have some good adventures of your own this coming week at our county fair. We think you will enjoy it. It looks like we will have really nice weather too.
If you'd like to know more info about the LCF schedule, costs, entertainment, location, etc, you can go to their website: http://www.loraincountyfair.com/
This year I see we are going to have a special 'guest' appearance from the Anheuser-Bush Clydesdales. I don't think I've ever known them to be at our fair before so this will be a treat. I did seem them in St Louis when my family went there one year for vacation when I was a lot younger. They are big! Check out the article about them here:
http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2010/08/13/anheuser-busch-clydesdales-coming-to-lorain-county-fair/
Lastly......
I found these cool aerial pics of the fairgrounds (at their website) that were taken during fair time. The cooler part is that you can see our farm in them too. This will give you a bird's eye view of everything close to us as some don't realize just how close to the fair we really are. When we say the fairgrounds is in our backyard...we mean it....literally.
You can click on any photo to make it larger.
A special thanks to Ken Bartlett for letting us use his aerial pics of the fairgrounds.
The back side (curved part, upper left) that's touching the trees is where our and the fair's property meet--sort of...it's in there somewhere in the trees. These woods is where our firewood and some of our maple syrup come from. Next to the trees to the right you will see a tree lined 'square' grassy area....that is our pasture.
A view from the other side. Our pasture is in the bottom right corner. The body of water you see is the Wellington Up-ground Reservoir.
A bigger pulled backed view.The reservoir is a great place to fish....boaters allowed. It is 2.2 miles around it if you are interested in running, biking or walking around it. This is where the boys did some of their training for the 5-k that I mentioned earlier in another post.
See you at the Fair...and make sure you visit some farm animals while you're there!
No comments:
Post a Comment