Big day at the fair

We woke up early this morning so that we could get out to the fair for the 20th Annual Balloon Chase.  We thought it started at 7:15, meaning the balloons were taking off at that time, so we scheduled to be there early to watch them set up as well.  We didn’t need to, the set-up started at 7:15.  We sat in the grandstands and watched all the activity.  We also got to see some people warming up their horses for the harness racing that was taking place later in the morning.  I took a bunch of pics:

2008 – Fair (Sat – Balloon Chase)

Then we wandered around and tried avoid the mass of people and vehicles that were bringing animals to the fair.  We finally took a break and ate some mini donuts.  Then we headed to the Old Farmstead to see the old tractors.  We didn’t realize that they were doing a tractor pulling contest (AKA the Strongman/woman Contest).  Trent took these pics:

2008 – Fair (Sat – Tractor Pulling & Tractors)

We still had time before the exhibit hall opened up, so we watched the tigers while they were cleaning out their trailer.  There are tiger shows daily in the afternoon and evening.  We got to see them fill up the back of a pickup with boxes from meat.  There were 7 tigers so they eat a lot!!  Here’s the pics I took:

2008 – Fair (Sat – Tigers)

Finally the exhibit hall opened up and we wandered around in there.  I took lots of pics of projects that won grand prize in the categories that Tyler is interested in for next year, but I won’t bore you all those.  I will show you a poster of the Exploring 4-H day camp on which is a picture of Tyler, Tyler’s project and Tyler’s cousins’ projects.

2008 – Fair (Sat – Projects)

It had been raining since we were watching the tigers and now it was lunch time, so we headed over to the Pork Producers stand for some food (mainly because it was the closest place to eat that had a roof).  Tyler & I had the best pulled pork sandwiches that we’ve had anywhere since we left Knoxville.  Trent had a bite of mine and agreed.  Tyler’s putting it on his list of places to eat at the fair in case he’s there at lunch time any other days.  Me, I’d rather sample a wide range of things than keep going back to the same place.  We decided it was time to head home so we wound our way through as many buildings as we could since it now pouring down rain.  We had one spot where I carried Tyler across a running river (as he called it) since the water was so deep it was up to my ankles.  We ended up soaking wet, but we did have a good time.