I went to the State Fair yesterday with sisters Liz and Donna and Liz's grandkids Alex and Marcus. What a great time! The State Fair has something for everyone, and each of us had an agenda. I, of course, had to see the knitting. Donna, who once owned a horse and has been in equine withdrawl ever since she gave it up, had to visit the horse barn. Liz wanted to spoil her grandchildren, and Alex and Marcus were determined to be spoiled. We all had our wishes granted.
I was glad to see Knitting has moved out of the cavernous Wisconsin Exhibition Hall to the cozier Horticulture, Culinary and Craft building, but I do wish the Fair would do something about the display cases and how they display the craft exhibits. I make this same complaint every year. Knitting, quilting, sewing, and woodworking are all jumbled together in the display cases with no apparent rhyme or reason to the arrangements. I wish they would group the winners by class and category so you could easily see what separates the Blue Ribbons from the rest of the crowd, but alas, I don't think the State Fair people read my blog! As usual, the vast number of knitting entries reflected older knitting traditions and simple but well executed patterns. The top winners were definitely worthy of their awards though. I was especially impressed by the colorful and intricate first place socks.
We all enjoyed the horse barn and were lucky to visit at a time when the horses were being taken out of their stalls to be readied for show. The Percherons, Belgians and Clydesdales were breathtaking. We even had a chance to see the Budweiser Clydesdales pull their wagon, complete with Dalmation dog riding shotgun.
Our visit was centered on the interests of Alex and Marcus, ages 4 and 7. We rode the Skyglider and visited the tractor exhibit, which included 100's, if not 1000's of matchbox size tractors on display, tractor tricyles for the kids to ride, and a kiddy "tractor pull" competition. It was little boy heaven! We watched as Alex rode a camel and Marcus rode a pony, and both children bungee jumped on a trampoline.
We did our best to support the economy. We ate corn and corn dogs, funnel cake, ice cream sundaes and creme brulee. All of us bought some sort of souvenir--Donna bought colorful leashes for her grandkids, Liz got a purse, the boys got toy cars and light up guns, and I got craisins, goat cheese, cranberry mustard, and a badger t-shirt. What can I say? When you say WI-SCON-SIN, you've said it all!
