State Fair

Great Falls Style

July 27, 2002

Today may have been the best day of our trip so far. We heard on the radio that the State Fair was opening this weekend in the next town we were to visit, Great Falls. I bought the paper - found out the scoop - and away we went…

It turns out that this is called the State Fair, but it really is more of a regional fair, but that was OK from my standpoint as it meant that the crowds were small, people were very willing to share information with us, and the feel was very small town. 

We started in the 4-H school projects hall, dioramas, sewing projects, some photography, a big mishmash of kids' work.  Then we went on to the poultry and rabbit hall. The rabbits were so cute, the floppy eared ones, the beautiful chocolate ones, short hair, long hair, and then the really fat, big ones with jowls. I never knew about the varieties of rabbits. We got to pet some too.  There was also a small pen with 30 ducklings all trying to swim in a little pool of water - pushing and shoving - a sweet image, but just not capturable on a camera. 

The livestock barn was pretty empty because the fair only opened today and the livestock don't show up til later, but I think that made one lady more talkative.  She explained that she had been a cattle rancher all her life as had her father before. She has a web site, but we haven't checked it out yet. She explained the difference between commercial cattle and registered cattle (commercial - we eat, registered - just for breeding). She explained some of the measurements they use such as weight when born (you want this to be small), how much they gain in one year (you want this to be huge - like a 1000 pounds!), how much milk they got? (I wasn't clear on that one). She used to do commercial like her father, but now only does registered.  We also saw a one ton cow (yes, 2000 pounds). Another interesting fact, good beef comes from cows that are 1 to 2 years old, but the beef we often get is from old cows. (In thinking about that though, it doesn't make sense because why would the rancher want to feed the cows for more than a year if they didn't have to?)

Before we went to the fair, I went to the farmers market.  There, a man explained to be about bison ranching.  The meat is less fat and they are easier to care for. I bought two steaks - that cost me 12 bucks so it better be good.  (Footnote: We did cook one of the steaks already. It was lean, but it kind of tasted like, well, beef, to me.)

We pet sheep and watched them be fed by little kids. There were all different kinds, some shorn, and some not - also some babies. There was one sheep whose baaah sounded so fake - like a person doing a really poor imitation of one.  David and I have been baahing at each other now.  It is one of those inside jokes between us now.

Another hall I enjoyed was the quilting and knitting hall - some of the quilts were so amazing.  One had embroidered state birds on it that looks like each panel would take 10 months. It was awe inspiring.  Another that impressed me was a quilt with scanned in photos of the family.  All were amazing - some looked doable, some looked comfortable - others looked the opposite - not doable, and not comfortable. We got to watch ladies making yarn and working with a loom also. While we were there, a man was judging bags of wool - freshly shorn. 

A hall that amazed and scared me was the equestrian hall, while we were watching a 8 - 10 year old boy lost control of his horse and the horse started bucking. The boy held on through 2 bucks and then both the boy and the horse fell over backwards during the last buck.  The boy (and the horse) was OK, but it was a very frightening moment. The competition continued. We learned that at different levels the kids are asked to do different levels of difficulty (just get the horse to walk, trot, walk, jog and line up in front of the judge is sort of the easiest.  Later we watched a competition where there was a pattern given to the kids right before the competition and they had to complete that pattern - it included having the horse walk backwards (that appeared too tough for many).  In that hall, the 4H-ers had a stand where they sold homemade ice cream - ooh, yum.

NASA had a roving exhibit / semi truck that was actually quite informative.  I thought of this as basically NASA making sure middle America realizes that many of the things they use in everyday life came about due to space research (sun glasses, infrared thermometers, cordless drills, and bike helmets) and also to keep people's enthusiasm for the space program up. The video talked about what was next for the space program and some of it amazed me - humans on mars on a trip lasting 3 years. Using fuel on Mars to get out of there, using the space station as a launching pad, mining the moon. It was all pretty incredible. One of the points stressed is that companies do not have to pay for the technology gained in the space program, it is given away free.  I thought that was a strange message and I'm not sure of its intent.

We also got to watch cloggers - one of the teenagers had a little brother, Lucas, who was 4 years old. He had been coming to practice with his sister and so today he danced with them.  The child knew all of the basic steps and when to turn.  He didn't have the intricate hand movements down or every step memorized, but what he had learned was amazing.  4 years old - probably couldn't write his own name yet! Some of the clogger girls looked like they would rather be getting root canals down than be up on stage - some from boredom, but others from stage fright I think.

At the farmers market earlier, I had run into a group that looked vaguely Amish, with girls and women in home made looking sundresses and all men in neat beards and cowboy hats. The boys had cowboy hats or another old-fashioned looking hat on - I think Huttenite was used in reference to them - it said they had Huttenite chickens.  It was strange because they all looked so happy.  I know that is a blanket statement, but there was something so light and refreshing about them.  One man took about 5 minutes to explain how they made some noodles I bought, how to cook them, how NOT to cook them (don't let them boil in the broth, they will become slimey, just let them sit in the soup bowl for a minute after you pour the broth out).  Very detailed, very caring that I understood.

Oh - and then there was the food at the Fair!  From the Sons of Norway, I got a Viking - which is basically a Swedish meatball on a stick, deep fried. I also got fire roasted corn dripping with butter. We passed on the deep fried corn and the deep fried candy bars, but they were available. 

Karaoke - I stayed to watch a little bit of the 1st Annual State Fair Karaoke contest. David decided he better go back to the RV and sleep off some of the 4H ice cream. It was a strange crowd with a different feel to the one at the fair. Then I realized that these are basically bar flies who have a friend or relative competing in the contest.  Some of them had great talent, but the bad acoustics got to me and I came back to write this up.

The overall idea that struck me from this regional fair came from the 4-H building.  The pride in the work shown by the kids, the level of detail, the patience all made me pause and appreciate the role of 4-H in young lives. I have become a big fan.