County fair always fun no matter where you live

The signs of summer are consistent in Shawano County. We start the summer with a serious tone as Memorial Day observances take place, but the sign that summer is coming to a close is a lot more cheerful as the Shawano County Fair commences.

Throughout the summer, communities have their own festivals, art fairs, and historical society presentations that bring out their residents, but the county fair has the unique standing of bringing the whole county together and plenty of visitors to boot. For six days, people are wandering the animal exhibits, lining up to ride the carnival rides and glancing over their shoulders to make sure the diet police isn’t watching them buy a deep-fried Oreo or a cream puff.

Growing up, the county fair was a big event for me, too. While it was fun to see all the animals and find out what other people had grown and created, it was even more exciting to see if my efforts ever won anything. I started out growing pumpkins, not always an easy task while living in the Arizona desert, but eventually I entered chickens.

That was always interesting, because I had a friend who entered chickens, as well, and there was a certain anticipation to see who would end up with more blue ribbons. It usually was him, as his family exhibited more chickens in general, but there was a certain satisfaction when one of my chickens won the blue, and one of his had to settle for a red and white ribbon.

For a couple of years, my mother served as superintendent for the Yavapai County Fair’s gems and minerals division. For a kid like me, it was fascinating to see some of the geodes and other crystals that were entered. What can I say? Shiny things tend to grab young ones’ attention.

Of course, fair time always meant food stands with the kind of cuisine that doesn’t usually show up at people’s dinner tables. It was always exciting to get my hands on some cotton candy, sno-cones and especially Indian fry bread. At the Yavapai County Fair, you could find fry bread on every corner practically, and that’s why I’m a little surprised that, among all the food stands we have here at the Shawano County Fair, not to mention being within a short driving distance of several Native American tribes, you can’t find a food stand selling fry bread.

One plus for the Shawano County Fair food, though, is the fact that there are food stands operated by community groups, utilizing the booths as their main fundraisers for the year. At the Yavapai County Fair, the food stands were out-of-towners travelling from fair to fair to make a living, and while we have some of those here, the bulk of the food is dished out by our friends and neighbors.

It was also fun at the Yavapai County Fair to watch the rodeos, the horse races and other events that put people in the hands of occasionally obstinate animals. Can the rider stay on the bull for eight seconds? Can the blonde with the pearly smile get her horse to race around and over obstacles the fastest? The rodeo arena was on par, size-wise, with the Shawano Speedway track, but to see continuous animal events was really exciting for a young child like me.

Another unique thing I liked about the fair in my youth was seeing people’s collections. Much of one building showcased the many gatherings of people, safely encased behind glass but showing the effort taken to find similar things and keep them together. You had button collections, quilt collections, but for me, the most exciting thing was seeing the toy collections.

Going through hundreds of displays definitely whiled away the hours for the younger me, and I would look at them again and again until the fair ended. While I would never see much of that stuff again, unless it was entered next year with additional discoveries, it gave me opportunities to dream and wonder, what if that stuff were mine?

One other thing I miss about the fair back home is how the schools would get involved. While we have plenty of musical performances at the Shawano County Fair, the schools would always have their bands, choirs, and elementary music performers take the stage on the midway, and it was neat to see a constant schedule of entertainment so that, once you got done looking at the local artwork.

You can’t fault the Shawano County Fair for not having school groups performing, though. The Yavapai County Fair usually took place later in September, and most schools in Arizona were back in session in August, giving them a few weeks to rehearse their performances. Sadly, our fair takes place at the same time school starts, thanks to a state law that won’t let public schools start before Sept. 1. I think it’d be interesting to showcase the local youth talent here someday, but for now, we’ll have to settle for the bands the fair board hires.

In the last 11 years, I’ve had the opportunity to cover the Shawano County Fair and always found some fun angles. Whether it’s hefty pumpkins, pigs sticking their snouts out of their pens or people with big grins on their faces as carnival rides toss them to and fro, it’s clear that county fairs provide happy experiences for people, sometimes the biggest thrill of the year.

I’ve also taken the opportunity to observe just as a spectator, stepping away from the role of a journalist. For me, Sunday night tends to be the period of choice where I just wander and look at everything the same way I did as a child. That time of the fair tends to be the quietest, and once the sun goes down, the neon lights of the midway tend to look really spectacular for anyone taking photographs.

When you think about it, county fairs tend to bring out the best of all things. You have youth showcasing their animals, farmers exhibiting plants and vegetables and plenty of photography on the walls. You see food lovingly prepared in home kitchens all around this county, and if you look hard, you’ll see clothing sewn together by loving and sometimes patient hands. That tends to happen no matter which county fair you go to.

In essence, county fairs provide the chance to show off, and folks who enter things are very proud of what they’ve raised or created. It’s definitely not about the money — have you seen the fair premiums? It’s about seeing what you’ve done get merit, and while there are plenty of blue ribbons on display at a county fair, it always seems like the one pinned to your own entry always seems to the brightest.

Lee Pulaski is the city editor for NEW Media. Readers can contact him at lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com.