Is there anything better than going to the county fair on a nice summer evening? Are there any better smells, sights, or sounds? Is there anything better than not having to make dinner and get to pick from any of the dozens of booths what you feel like having to eat?
There's nothing like the pride in the faces parents as they watch their kids enter the show barn where they'll be showing their 4-H lambs, the teenagers in the pork barn all rowdy and laughing, chasing their pigs into the gate so they can get them into the showbarn and up for judging?
Is there anything like walking in the exhibit barn and seeing all the pretty jars of canned goods lined up in a row or being surprised at the talent of the kids who entered their photo or painting to get a ribbon?
The pride of a grandpa in his white shirt, overalls and boots, hooking up a team of shiny draft horses with their beautiful leatherwork bridles and halters, set to go pull at the draft horse pull? As you watch the faces of the older men around you, it makes you realize that they are reliving memories, of generations past,of county fairs past, and they realize that most families really needed these giant animals around the farm in order to be able to get the crops in to feed the family.
The attention those who have lived it, the way they watch those horses and the men who own them and work with them is a whole lot different from the passing interest displayed by those of a younger generation who may not even realize that horses were a neccesity to living in our not too recent past.
We should always remember what a unique and special tradition this is, how are blessed to live in a land of plenty. Such a sweet tradition, the American country fair is to us, to the people who have lived on the land before us; and I hope that those who come after us will keep it for new generations to learn from!
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