Last week we went to a fair. I’m cynical about fairs having spent a large portion of my life on fairgrounds. I hate fair food. (Seriously, live on it for a week at a time and come back and tell me if you still crave it.)
But, the husband likes a fair and Z wants to ride rides. This led to us wandering around looking at animals while Z complained about how much she hates stupid animals. Good times. I think all the animals that only have a few days left to live are absolutely depressing. I petted a pig for a while and apologized for humans being barbaric. He’s been murdered by now.
There were horses and they get to survive a fair.
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These are the nicest stalls I’ve ever seen on a fairgrounds.
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Dairy cows at fairs are false advertising. I worked on dairy cows. They are never this clean.
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This guy makes his living by letting kids ride him and posing for pictures.
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There were stuffed animals of course.
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I grew up on a dairy farm. The local fair was an annual event. Mostly I remember hating the cotton candy, being hot and bored at the tractor pull. I went a couple of times as an adult to the state fair here in Milwaukee and enjoyed it quite a bit. Every 5 years or so is enough for me. I never thought about the animals days being numbered – now I will like it even less. And you are right our cows were never that clean.
Coming from farm country, I have mixed feelings about fairs, too. But I do love getting some real lemonade and onion rings and watching the horse-pulling teams and the youngsters in the 4-h dairy goat and cattle yoke team demonstrations. And I always like seeing the home arts displays of quilts and sewing and jams and canned vegetables … we always top off our trip to the fair with a ride on the Ferris wheel. Then, we buy a bag of popcorn and go home.
My kids love to see the animals at fairs, but I agree that they give humans a sanitized view of a farm animal’s life.
I definitely understand why you don’t like fairs since you’ve worked at them. I used to work at a NASCAR racetrack. Now that I know all the hard work and countless hours the staff spends in preparation for a 3-day event, I can’t enjoy the hoopla. Not that I was that big a fan to begin with!
However, I did enjoy your fair photos, especially the longhorn steer.
Sandy @ Texas Twang
I have to say I’m not keen on animals at fairs particularly if they’re on show, sale or performing. However, I quite like a fair. 🙂