County fairs shape our communities

Adam Siegfried will serve smoked turkey legs at the St. Pat’s booth at the fair again this year.

Courtesy photo

County fairs shape our communities

Most of us don’t need an excuse to eat more pie, to talk longer with our friends or to fawn over bunnies, but for the next couple weeks, we have all the more reason to do. It is county fair time.

Why do people plan their summers around them? Why do they look forward to them all year round? Why do parents spend countless hours helping their children with 4-H projects?

Ultimately, what is there about county fairs that is so appealing?

The answer is different for everyone.

Personally, my connection to the Red Willow County Fair is because it was the first time I ever visited McCook in the mid-1990s. We didn’t come back to McCook for the fair but if you were in town, you were going to the county fair. I didn’t know anyone at the fair except the person who brought me there, my future husband.

Yet, by the time we left, I had visited both church food booth’s and eaten too much. I had ridden the carnival rides, spending time on one too many spinning machines. And I had met dozens and dozens of people, many who I still know and call friends to this day.

For others, county fairs brings many firsts and onlys.

During a conference this week, someone from the other side of the state fondly remembered that they had attended their first concert at the Chase County Fair, watching REO Speedwagon. She had a grin on her face from ear to ear thinking back to that memory.

Some people swear that they only eat homemade pie during fair week. Maybe the keyword in that statement is “homemade” and not “eat” and “pie” but still, the highlight of the week may be the homemade pie at the Methodist and Catholic food booths.

For many, a county fair can provide cheap entertainment. Living south of McCook, we watch car after car from Red Willow County travel past our road headed to the Decatur County Fair in Oberlin. It is arguably the best home-owned carnival, where families return home with so many stuffed animals that mom and dad can’t see out the back window.

And for others, the county fair has to do with nostalgia and simpler times.

The county fair was where you went to find your friends before you could track everyone on your phone. You knew that you were going to see your neighbors wandering the livestock building and chat about the weather. It may be the only time all year that you see some friends, giving you time to catch up on how the kids and grandkids are doing.

The county fair was where you were willing to let your kids run around fairly unsupervised, knowing that if they did something foolish, whatever it was would quickly make its way back to you.

And the county fair was where you willing to sacrifice your diet for a piece of homemade pie each night of the fair….because it was fair time. I don’t know if anyone has caught my fascination with pies yet. They truly are an art-form when the crusts are flakey, the fillings are sweet and the pieces hold up perfectly when cut. It can be summer on a plate.

Even those who aren’t directly involved in a county fair are affected by the annual event. It affects all the schedules, meetings and vacations during the second half of the summer.

There are very few conversation the past two weeks - or even throughout the year - that don’t include the statements, “that’s fair week” or “well, fair is coming up” and then the event or meeting is rescheduled or pushed back to avoid conflict.

Putting this much focus on the county fair is only fair. (Get it…little fair humor here.)

It takes place just once a year. People put a lot of work into these activities. And we are an ag-based community, so it is only right that we highlight all the hard-work that our young people do with the small and large animals, along with all the 4-H contest entries by young and old alike.

So check out the schedule of events for all the upcoming county fairs, both where you live and in the neighboring counties. Make a plan to eat dinner at least once at the food booths or vendors, many of them local businesses. Peruse the buildings with the open class exhibits, and hope the kids are nearby to explain all the work they have put into getting to fair. Attend one evening event, whether it is a concert, a rodeo or even just taking a ride on the Ferris wheel.

County fairs truly are an opportunity to slow down, enjoy time with your friends and neighbors and appreciate the communities we live in. And did I mention, partake of some of the best pie all year long?