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"Let's be cheerful"! We have no more right to steal the brightness out of the day for our own family than we have to steal the purse of a stranger. Let us be as careful that our homes are furnished with pleasant & happy thoughts as we are that the rugs are the right color and texture & the furniture comfortable and beautiful"! Laura Ingalls Wilder

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

county fair



This evening I'm looking at fair pictures and taking a stroll down memory lane.  We have participated in our county fair for the last 16 years.  I remember that Hillary was 5 when she won her first ribbons and now she is 22!  

We've entered photographs, drawings, paintings, collages, mosaics, Lego creations, collections, table settings, dolls, cards, origami, decoupage, knit garments and toys, aprons, skirts, quilts, breads, cakes, cookies, muffins, rolls, jams, cut flowers, flower arrangements...








We've come home with ribbons for first place, second place, third place, judges choice, peoples choice...
and we've had tears of disappointment. 

We've made enough money on premiums each year to pay for our family admission and sometimes for carnival armbands.  Yes, the county fair is good!






This year we didn't enter as much as usual.  We knew that we would be gone during the pre-week, and I would be responsible for getting the entries in alone.  A huge job!  So, we kept it light.  Erin came home with 5 firsts, 3 seconds, and 1 third.  Audrey scored a blue ribbon.  She only entered 3 things this year.  I even had fun, but we won't go there.

I took the camera the first night and had trouble getting a decent picture, but wanted to immortalize at least a bit of our 2011 county fair!

*I posted this late last night and I was tired.  When I checked it this morning I realized that the pictures of the girls entries I had posted were all close ups with their name and address glaring in each one.  I wasn't comfortable with that so here you have just a couple of sad pictures from afar.  I'm not going to delete the post.  So please humor me today.


Blessings, Debbie   

27 comments:

  1. That is fun! Our girls like to enter photography in our local fairs...and in one do the equine events....fun times.

    Congrats to your girls!

    Deanna

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  2. Congrats to the girls, it looks like a fun time:@)

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  3. Congratulations to the girls!! And, to you for shepherding all the things in spite of being under a crunch with being gone the pre-week! I love all the creations! And, that wheelbarrow of flowers makes my heart smile! blessings ~ tanna

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  4. Congratulations to all of you! Going to the fair looks like so much fun and all the excitement of the judging must be thrilling. I wish we had a fair in my town, but the closes one is 2 hours away. xx

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  5. Congrats to your girls! I love the fair.

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  6. Congratulations to Erin! What a dear, wholesome piece of Americana a county fair is! It's been a long time since I attended a fair.

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  7. Congrats to all the ribbon winners! I really like the photo of the scarecrows :) Too funny!!

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  8. It looks exactly like our county fair! Don't you just love them? A piece of the past living on and on.

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  9. I do love the county fair! So great that you and your family having been entering all these years. I do lots of "next year".

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  10. How nice, we did that too. It is so much work to get things there and picked up and all of that. I don't think I miss it. :)

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  11. Great job to all....but really Debbie....I think you should share your entries now that you have made us curious! :)

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  12. Consider yourself "humored"! This all made me very nostalgic. Haven't been to County Fairs for a long, long time now. Congratulations to your family for all the awards.

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  13. I've never had the guts to enter anything in our fair. My sister has won a blue ribbon for her photography though. Your fair looks very nice! They handmade stuff at our fair usually gets chucked into some cabinets like the judges don't care. :( I haven't been in years though, so it might be better now.

    Too bad about the pattern oops! I actually did that when I was making it the first time, heh. Glad you were only 5 rows though, instead of halfway through!

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  14. Love it! Brings back my own 4-H memories! Love fair time and displays - I was in the "Cutie-Cut-ups" sewing club and am so thankful to have learned so much during those years. I use all those skills today - and was able to pass them onto my own daughter - and more - as co-leader for her 4-H and fair experiences. She was in a rabbit club - but we did other projects, too. She blue ribboned in canning one year - and rabbit show.

    You photos are great - love the opening shot of the quilt and regency gown. Not in the circle of such things these days. Memories bring joy, though.

    Joy!
    Kathy

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  15. Your photos are enough to show how much fun I missed not being there.

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  16. Looks like a lot of fun ~ Love the quilts!!!!!!

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  17. We don't have a good country fair here like they did where I grew up. I know you have SO MUCH fun. I love that picture with the girls and the scarecrows. LOL

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  18. My goodness, what a busy clan! A lovely family.

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  19. This brings back memories! My two older children used to participate in our county fair, as well as that of a nearby county in which they were 4-H members. Alas, the younger girls are not in 4-H...and then the fair was moved to an outdoor location during the dog days of summer. (It used to be part inside/part outside...and in early fall.) I know...I'm pitiful...but I just can't take the heat these days!

    It looks like you all had lots of fun...and congratulations on your winnings! (Love the mannequins! ;-)

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  20. Just wanted to let you know I sent you an email with the newest version of the pattern. :)

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  21. You gals are sooooooo creative! And Wahoo on all those ribbons! I wished I had a place to enter some of my stuff. [o= We are too far away from these types of fairs. I remember going to the fair in the Greater Vancover, BC area. I LOVED getting to see what others had entered.

    Thank you for your sweet encouragement.

    Blessings and ((HUGS))
    -Mary

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  22. That looks lots of fun. Congrats on the wins and good for you all joining in. Each year I think that I should enter something into our local shows. Maybe one year!

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  23. Congratulations I missed my fair but hope to enter next year again. My girls always entered every year also. It is good for them
    Love the shot of the girls and the mannequins. B

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  24. I love fairs. I think I'm going to have a mini-fair in my classroom and award ribbons. I'm going to think on it.
    Thank you for sharing the photos! They're fun! Your girls are such raven-haired beauties!

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  25. Oh I just love this...and since I am way down the list, so do so many others. This is just great!!! I would have loved to have done some of this through the years...but our ribbons are from sports! I am truly a sports mom.
    Congratulations on the wins...congratulations on continuing to do it through the years...and all, yes all...those memories.

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  26. I have always wanted to enter something into the county fair, but chicken out each time. Maybe next year? lol

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  27. Hon, if you have any image software at all, you just have to blur those tags heavily, or place a neat black square over them. I could do it for you if you want. I never did take advantage of the county fair thing. The city one just to the north is too big - even the parking is horrendous. And the one in our own county is STILL too big. Now, I regret not having paid more attention. Maybe I'll go this year. I think I still have time to find out about it -

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