A Day at the Marin County Fair

A fair staple-the Ferris Wheel

It is fair season all over America. In the Bay Area every county has one. My local favorite is the Marin County Fair that is held at the Marin County Fairgrounds in San Rafael. I guess I like it because the grounds are pretty to walk around and it always has good and many different things to see.

Fairs are a shout back to our past when farming was king. People grew their own food and butchered their own meat. One of the things I like doing at the fair is going to the section of the fair dedicated to that past:

Sheep

A Llama

This is Wilbur a 1100 lb pig that will never be butchered, he is a breeder

While walking around, I saw that there was a Dressage competition going on and I had never seen one live (every four years they show a little on TV from the Olympics) and I was amazed by the power and strength of both the horse and the riders:

Jumping

Made it over

But to me the fair is all the work that everyday individuals do in their hobbies that make the fair to me. I like looking at the sewing, artwork and whatever that everybody does and enters in the fair contests. I can spend hours look at what people create. Here is a very small sampling:

Javelin Man-Made out recycled food cans

A scarecrow

I love this collage

Fair's are about food also. The group I was with went to this really great restaurant before we arrived at the fair, so I did not eat much and the thought of deep fried Twinkies and such makes me want to throw up.

Roasted Turkey Legs

Roasted Corn

I bought a 1/2 lb and this has a serious kick to it.

But all fair's implement their own local touches and this being Marin and the home George Lucas means "May The Force Be With You.":

R2D2

A Stormtooper

A mock landspeeder