Fair Dump

This title could have so many meanings. It's supposed to let you know that this post is about my visit to the Georgia National Fair yesterday and the photo dump you are about to see. My day started with a run and then a quick breakfast so my folks and I could hop in the car and drive on down to Perry. I didn't go to the fair last year so I was very excited to attend this year. My main goal of the day was to see the llama show which is a llama obstacle course. On the way to see them we stopped to look at the rabbits. We got to pet the velveteen rabbit (or as Joey on Friends called him, the Velveeta rabbit).

This little guy was super soft. We saw 9 and 11 day old bunnies, lop eared rabbits, albinos, and even the rare invisible rabbit.

We moved on to the llamas. My dad was not impressed but mom appreciated the humor of the simple obstacle course. Llamas are pretty docile creatures so no running or jumping was required, only walking through certain obstacles without falling or tripping.

 

This spotted llama was particularly pretty and I love their long lashes.

I didn't get close enough to take pictures of their eyes but I did get to pet one. We saw tons of cows as we were walking along (not sure why I didn't take any pictures) and we saw black and white ones, brown, grey, and tan. We also saw them getting pampered and fluffed for their big show. Next was the Jr. market hog show. It smelled really awful in that arena. The show didn't seem to make any sense. All these kids paraded in the arena with their hogs and walked around smacking them with a pole.

I'm not sure what they were trying to get them to do. The little girl in the purple shirt (in the middle of the picture) was the smallest kid in the arena and she smacked that hog multiple times on the face with the pole, smacked it with her hand on the face and also shoved her knee into its side to make it go a certain direction. Since I didn't understand the purpose of the show I felt that all the kids were meanies. The smell was getting to be too much so we moved on to find the draft horse show. We saw four Belgian horses

and five Clydesdale horses.

They were very pretty with all their hair bows and ribbons.

They are such huge animals. After the show we went in search of fine fair food. Ralph and I had corn dogs and onion rings while mom had some disgusting looking thing trying to pass as a gyro. I had to take this picture for Ralph.

Every kind of meat you could imagine was being smoked and you could hardly see as you passed because of all the smoke. The rest of the afternoon was devoted to looking at all of the art exhibits. On the way to one of the buildings we came across this tree man.

This was an amazing costume. It blended in so well that unless he moved you didn't really notice him (yes, even though he was standing in the middle of an asphalt walkway). Several people would scream every now and then as they were passing by because they didn't notice him at first. The tree man was probably one of the most interesting things I saw at the fair. We got to see some of the winners of school art projects, quilts, cakes, and woodworking creations. This included plants and flowers.

Aren't these gorgeous? I have a brown thumb so I can certainly appreciate the hard work it takes to grow something that beautiful. We made a brief stop at poultry world where I held a baby chick (I do this each time I visit the fair, everyone should, they are precious!). Finally we walked through the artwork building. There was some yarn art! This artist had three pieces but this one was the best.

Sold for $1,500! I used to do this in high school (nothing this professional looking or detailed). Who knows what I could have made if I'd kept practicing? It really does take forever to create something of this size. I am very jealous of this artist. I was also captivated by this first place winner in the watercolor category.

This artist's technique is unique and I can definitely picture an entire graphic novel done in this style. This one sold for $500. We saw dozens of photography entries and so many of them were really spectacular. We left shortly before 2pm so we had a fun filled day at the fair before all the massive crowds arrived. I did not get on any rides. If my sister had been there I might have considered it but neither of my parents would have gotten on a ride and I don't think I could handle one of them on my own. I hope I can go again next year!