The Grange Fair is underway in Centre Hall, PA. This afternoon I decided to stop by. My main motivation for going was to observe the animal dressing competition.
As I drove to Centre Hall I wondered what the parking lot would look like. I envisioned the rain yesterday made the acres of field parking interesting. I was not disappointed.
Abondon all hope ye compacts who enter here.
I decided to proceed with caution. Getting stuck in a muddy parking lot was not part of my Saturday afternoon plan. The parking lot was crowded, so after a quick survey of the topography I headed toward a far corner that had higher ground. I managed to find a relatively dry spot to park my car.
I stayed away from areas like this.
As I walked toward the fair I quickly determined that the smell was much worse than previous years. I suspect all the stagnant mud and pools of animal sewage caused this. Food vendors that were set up near the animal holding areas were out of luck.
Thankfully the smell of fried things took over as I made my way into the middle of the fair. It was obvious it had rained recently, but conditions weren’t too bad.
A path becomes a reflecting pool.
Many of the walkways were very crowded. I think it was due to the poor weather yesterday and threatening weather earlier today. I walked through the tent and RV areas. After some thought, I decided you would have to pay me at least $5000.00 to stay in a tent there for the duration of the fair.
Fun time? Maybe for you.
I don’t ever recall a point in my life when I really enjoyed carnival rides. The bright colors and festivity of fairs and carnivals is an interesting novelty, but the actual rides don’t do much for me. I was tempted to ride the Ferris wheel so I could get an aerial photo of the fair, but I decided it wasn’t worth it.
While I was walking around I was keeping an eye out for the Livestock Arena, for that is where the animal dressing competition was being held. One of the reasons I wanted to see the animal dressing competition was to determine what kind of dressing took place. Dressing could involve putting clothes on an animal, or it might involve removing its organs. You never know. Keep in mind this is a rural country fair.
Suddenly a goat walked past me wearing a tie dyed shirt. I followed her. She led me to the arena, and she also clued me in to what type of dressing I was going to see.
Woodstock Goat wins a blue ribbon.
I saw a ewe wearing a bikini. I saw a cow wearing Barney the Dinosaur slippers. I saw a rabbit wearing a cheerleader costume. I saw a goat dressed up like Zorro. I learned that most animals do not like wearing clothes.
Baseball Goat also took home a blue ribbon.
My curiosity about animal dressing satiated, I roamed around a bit more. Public address announcements about the first round of Grange Fair Idol urged me to head to the grandstand. I didn’t stick around. After two hours at the Grange I had reached my fair quota.
