Join Thor and me as we enjoy the annual fair that celebrates early harvest and farming traditions in our “far corner” of the country.
I hadn’t been to what we always called “the Lynden Fair” in a few years, so when it rolled around again, I told Thor we needed to go see the baby goats and watch my favorite event — the draft horse hitch. Growing up 4th-generation in Whatcom County, I always looked forward to the fair, and as a teenager took part with my horse Star in 4-H competitions. Here’s an old photo of me with Star (on right) and my sister Gail with Taffy, as we were getting ready to practice barrel-racing and other skills. (Usually we rode bareback and galloped like “wild banshees” around the fields and trails where we grew up.)
First priority when arriving was to check the schedule for the horse events, then hit the animal barn to see the baby goats and other critters.
The pig pens had convenient water taps so they could drink directly from them:
Heading toward the draft horse barn, we admired this antique steam-powered tractor that was fueled by coal.
The draft horses were being groomed and gussied up for the grandstand horse event. Manes and tails are carefully braided and decorated with ribbons. These giants are mostly gentle, thank goodness! My Grandpa Fritz had a raspberry farm out in the county, and we girls would bring our horses, help pick berries, and stay in a cabin there, sometimes getting into mischief I won’t relate here, except to say that Gramps was a bit perturbed when I drove his tractor and got it stuck in a pool of chicken manure… Anyway, the farming neighbors used draft horses to work their farm, and I got to ride one bareback once. It was like doing splits atop that broad back!
The fair’s horse events include barrel racing, pony chariot races, and my favorite, the draft horse hitch. Local farmers are justifiably proud of their teams that still work their farms. Apparently our Whatcom County has one of the highest numbers of working draft horses in the U.S. These teams pull wagons in a sort of melee where the drivers see how tight they can turn them at a trot, while avoiding the other wagons in the arena. Such beautiful horses!
After lunch of fair food — a barely-edible corn dog and a better ice cream cone — we wandered through the carnival rides.
As a teenager, I loved the rides, but now just looking at the whirling and upside-down torture machines makes me queasy (especially after that lunch).
Finally, we toured the harvest and craft barns, including the vegetable “animals.”
The display of quilts was especially beautiful.
Do you have a fair in your area? Or other end-of-summer tradition? I’d love to hear about it.
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is Pause, a First Place winner of the Chanticleer Somerset Award and an International Pulpwood Queens Book Club selection. “A must-read novel about friendship, love, and killer hot flashes.” (Mindy Klasky). Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
We used to do the Clackamas County Fair in Canby, Oregon because my lacemaking guild would demonstrate in the craft barn. I won a few blue ribbons there. Hubby fell in love with tractor pulls there and we followed steam tractor shows around the Pac NW for a while.
Oregon State Fair in Salem, Oregon also had special categories for lacemakers. Won a few more blues!
Last 2 times we went, we saw the double horned Joshua goats and stumbled on the draft horse show and their bright and shiny wagons decorated to match the horse ribbons and braids. Really special experience. Those horses are HUGE and so gentle and loving with their handlers. More like pets than working animals.
Alas, our aging bodies do not handle the heat, noise, fried food, and uneven footing very well anymore.