This year I took a half day off of work, and had the kids take the bus home. We got on the road about 3:30, and after fighting Friday rush hour traffic got to the Fair about 4:30.
They were predicting rain Friday night; it wound up being a beautiful night, and remarkably uncrowded. The weather must've scared away the faint of heart!
My children whole-heartedly embrace tradition, particularly at the Fair. We always park in the same (free) parking lot. We always enter the Fair by the same gate. And this year, when we were walking in and I asked them what they wanted to do first, Peter looked at me as if I were insane and said, "HUSHPUPPIES!!! Are you crazy, woman!?!?! HUSHPUPPIES!!!!" Which of course, translates to, "Oh, Mother, you darling woman who gave birth to me, how can you have forgotten that we always get hushpuppies from the mill by the entrance?" So, for the first couple of hours at the Fair, we did the following:
- Free Hushpuppies
- Trip to the bathroom (a tradition, according to Peter. Common sense, according to me)
- A pony ride (even though Peter's legs are getting so long that they nearly drag the ground
- Ate Roasted Corn (and had lemonade)
- Saw the prize veggies, prize livestock, and honey bee exhibits
- Milked a cow and drank NCSU milk. Or at least Grace did. Peter asked for Carolina milk
- Rode rides
- Bought Mt. Olive pickles and got Pickle Stickers and Democrat Stickers
- Weighed Peter and Grace on an official NC Department of Standards scale (Peter weighs 71.3 pounds, Grace 51.6)
By this time, Peter's friend Blake and his Dad had arrived at the Fair. We'd made plans to meet up with them, so we found them, and then proceeded to do all THEIR Fair traditions, some of which we'll happily take on as our own. We did the Scavenger Hunt in the Agriculture building and got free T-Shirts, looked at the craft and hobby exhibits, got more stickers (Highway Patrol, Wake Co. Sherrif) rode more rides, played games, and ate! Peter and I got Ham Biscuits from the Cary Methodist Church kiosk, we had Fried Candy Bars (Three Musketeers for Peter, Milky Way for Grace), and Grace got a Caramel Apple. Peter actually won at a Fair Game, so he came home with a stuffed animal.
By the time the fireworks ended it was after 10 and we were about done. After a quick stop for a corn dog (Grace) and Tractor Ice Cream (churned in a machine run by a tractor engine....) we made a final bathroom stop (also a tradition) and then headed for home.
One thing that I love about the Fair is that you can see things that you just don't see everywhere, so I'll leave with these pictures:
- Horse Statues painted with Fair scenes
- A gaggle of piglets fast asleep
- NCAA licensed milk
- Goats playing King of the Mountain
- A likeness of Abraham Lincoln and a Chinese Dragon, made from apples
- A pot-bellied pig who paints (and SELLS his artwork!)
- A nativity scene made from beeswax
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