A Night at the Fair

Last night we decided to make our annual trip to the Orange County Fair. Every time I go there I'm reminded of the old Jeff Foxworthy routine in which he says "if you're upset about your family, just go walk around the fair and you'll come out of there feeling like you're darn near royalty".

We've been going to the fair for 20 years now. In fact, one of our first dates was to opening night of the fair in 1986 to see the Gatlin Brothers perform. Since then we've always tried to hit the fair at least one night during its run.

Every year there are new a crazier rides which I always avoid. My working theory has always been that if you can take a ride off a truck and assemble it in one day using unskilled labor, I'm not willing to trust it with my life. I don't even like walking near the things for fear that I'll get hit with flying parts of machinery or people.

One of our favorite places at the fair is the Home Arts building where they showcase all the collections that were submitted for judging. It's always entertaining to see the kind of stuff that people collect, and the fact that they're willing to admit to the whole world that they collect that stuff. There was everything from matchbooks to martini glasses to every type of knick-knack you could think of. For the first time we decided to enter a collection.

My wife has collected sun-colored glass since she was a teenager. This is glass that was created during the depression and war years when certain glass-making chemicals were in short supply. They were the chemicals which keep the glass clear through the years. Without those chemicals and with exposure to the sun, the glass begins to turn purple. Depending on the chemical makeup of the glass and the amount of sun exposure, the glass can turn anywhere from a very light lavendar to a very deep purple. We have bunches of this stuff, and Anne chose 18 pieces to enter in the Collections-Glassware category. Here she is with the display:

We're proud to say she brought home a 2nd place in her category:
We consider it a major award.

As much fun as that was, my biggest laugh came during our walk through the Orange County Building. This is where the various county agencies set-up shop along with the political parties. The GOP had their usual flags and stuff on display, the Libertarians had a very plain looking booth, and then there were the Democrats:

To be fair, the theme this year is "Flower Power" so there was a big of a retro thing going on throughout the grounds, but to see the Dems in full 60's acid-trip regalia was just so appropriate on so many levels. I just had to get their picture (I didn't tell them it was for a conservative blog).

If you're going to the Orange County Fair, be sure to stop by the Home Arts building and look for Anne's display. If you take your picture with her display and email it to me, I'll post it on the blog.