Beasts at the Fair

I had a lucky week last week. On Monday, due to the Audible app not working properly, I ended up, thanks to customer service, with 3 free books to download. Then on Tuesday, I won 4 free tickets from our local radio station, The River 95.3, for the Warren County Fair. So on Saturday afternoon, Elliott and I went to the fair, and I gave the other 2 free tickets to the lady on the gate to pass on to someone else.

I'd not been to this fair before. I'm a big fan of the Clarke County fair, as the local kids dress up along with their pets, plus I love the venue, and I've also been to the Fauquier fair, just the once. I won't return there as I wasn't impressed at how the animals were kept in the shed. It was way too hot, and I had to ask a number of times for empty water bowls to be filled. Here, at the Warren County fair, the animal shed was gloriously cool, with big fans blowing, doors open and not one creature with an empty water bowl, or looking uncomfortable. The fast asleep pig made me chuckle with its front leg in the air, unable to lay flat on the ground, due to its wide girth. The chickens posed cheekily for me and seemed to be the best of friends. All the livestock here were beautiful animals, many lying down in the summer heat, but obviously not suffering from it.

This incredible wooden ark was on display. Built by hand on a 6:1 ratio, the same ratio as modern oil tankers, which are designed for stability. It was made locally, in Amissville, VA, and incredibly detailed, with hundreds of carved wooden animals, stalls and provisions. I have no idea how they managed to carry that into the fair, it must weigh a ton, and take hours to set up. It was amazing.

 

We walked towards the track where the monster trucks were on display, passing a beauty queen posing for a photographer with a funnel cake. The drivers were by their huge trucks, dwarfed by the giant tires. An older lady drove the truck, Muddy Girl, which I was very impressed by, and she told me the tires can range from $300 - $6000 each, hence the reason for repairs being made on them as long as they'll last. I'd noticed a line of screw heads on one of her back tires, and she smiled, saying it was one of the repairs, where she'd snagged the wheel on a concrete barrier while coming round a corner. Another monster truck, Sasquatch, was out in the field, offering rides to folk for $17 each, a 5 minutes roll twice in a circle with no thrill bumps or fast acceleration. We shook our heads at the money families must be spending. With entry, food, drinks and souvenirs, it had to be a minimum of $200 for a 2 kid family. We had a lousy meal of 3 dried up chicken tenders with greasy fries for $15; it was barely edible. Elliott's iced tea was $8. I had a $2 bottle of water.

We managed to get seats on the bleachers, from where the view was pretty good, and couldn't believe it when we spotted a family, with kids and pushchair, strolling across the track, oblivious of the danger. Only in FroRo...

The monster trucks lined up at the edge of the field, getting the audience fired up with their tremendously loud engines. I was impressed to see quite a few kids whose parents had got them to wear ear guards. And as soon as they were lined up, I was disappointed when they then shut off their engines. Next the kids on their ATVs came out, racing around a small track, and I have to admit to being a little relieved at the short show, when they rode off and were replaced with mini monster trucks, also driven by kids, one of them an 8 year old girl! They didn't do any jumps or spectacular leaps but they all looked really cute. And then the big engines fired up, and I moved to the edge of my seat in anticipation.

Muddy Girl started off with a reasonable jump, and then Killer Bee, who I'd posed with in the pit, jumped almost vertically, and landed on his back. Everyone leapt to their feet with dread, as the truck lay motionless. Then there was some movement, and the driver appeared unscathed. The crowd exhaled audibly as one, and we watched a JCB trundle out to put the truck back on its wheels again. I have to admit that I was interested to see that the underside of the truck was brightly painted and shiny, and supposed it was for moments like these. Like a model, there's no bad angles!

Backdraft and Outlaw performed some righteous leaps, wheels spinning and engines roaring, but for me, it was all a bit of an anti-climax after Killer Bee's mishap. By the end of the first half it seemed that Outlaw was in the lead for height and length of his leaps, and they all rode slowly back to the edge of the field, revving their engines for maximum effect, where they then sat quietly for the break. I posted a video of the fantastically throaty engine growling by Outlaw. I wouldn't mind turning up to work in that one day, especially if I could just drive over the top of all the traffic stuck on Rte 66 in front of me.

Another truck with people standing in the back sped up and down in front of the crowd throwing t-shirts. The kids were racing up and down with them, hoping to grab a lucky catch, and a lot did, they were pitching out quite a few goody bags. Elliott and I got restless waiting for the monster trucks to restart and our interest had waned, especially as it seemed they would be doing the same jumps again. We wandered off to roam among the carnival rides.

We strolled about, taking a few photos, but I was mainly enjoying seeing the kids having fun. There were no thrilling adult rides, and I was a little miffed that no adults were allowed in the funhouse. I always love those. It wasn't packed with people but we guessed that would change once the monster trucks were finished and the sun went down. I took a couple of shots of the stunning sunset, and then we made our way home, joining a few others who also wanted to leave before the mass exodus. Rural life is grand, we were home in 20 minutes.