Recalling fun time, unexpected romance at the fair

Recalling fun times, unexpected romance at the fair

The big events are the demo derby, concerts, rodeo, and more. To each his own, but this old guy is more attracted to the events involving the youth of our community, particularly the 4-H events and those that involve animals. Possibly it goes back to my youth as a kid raised on a farm.

My folks were a bit into dairy, and that involved a herd of Holstein cows with around ten being milked twice daily. Actually, it was the cream check and later the revenue from selling milk to the local cheese plant that put food on our table and paid school expenses for the four of us young'uns in our Trail family.

Initially, each of us had a young dairy calf that we learned to lead and trained to show to a judge at the big event, the local county fair. It took hours and hours working with each calf to get them to lead on command and stand properly to show their best conformation to the judge. Initially, I started with a dairy calf and then, around high school age, graduated to carefully chosen beef calves. We had pigs too, Yorkshires, but I can’t recall showing any of them. Sheep and goats were missing also.

My interest in showing calves and later on an increasing interest in the young ladies showing them led me to the show ring one morning. Ha! I recognized a perky young lady, showing her calf, that I had met the year before at a 4-H camp in Curtis. Nicely dressed in an attractive blouse tucked into her blue jeans, brown hair carefully pulled back and braided into two tight braids, bright brown eyes, and a ready smile. Yes, her name was Ann, and although she lived north of town, in Frontier County, her folks had brought her to compete with her beef calf at the Red Willow County Fair.

It didn’t happen right away, but that bright brown-eyed beauty became my wife seven years later, and we’ve been happily married now some 65+ years. So see what one can find at a local county fair—it might be worth going!

Visiting with Grannie Annie when preparing this article, she told me that she was competing with one of my local friends, Jerda Thompson, in showmanship. That first year, Jerda beat her. Grannie learned more that next year, and she is still proud that in year two, Ann Tondreau earned the title of best in showmanship, happily beating Jerda. Some challenges never seem to expire!

I think that I agree with fellow columnist Ronda (see her last week's Gazette column) that part of the reason I love the modern fair is the nightly epicurean delight in enjoying a piece of “homemade” pie. Sure, my oversized tummy doesn’t need the pie treat, but it is worth it to enjoy a piece from either the Methodist or Catholic food booth. Visiting with friends as we enjoy the food treats is a good part too. Maybe this year, I can get one of Adam Siegfried’s smoked turkey legs too, as last year they were always sold out before I could place my order.

One of the “privileges” of being an old guy is getting up and wandering in the house in the middle of the night, quietly so as not to disturb Grannie Annie. A couple of nights ago, I noticed a beautiful full moon. The internet had a couple of odd names for it, but I call it a harvest moon. Perfectly round, bright, and truly beautiful! The Internet mentioned it because it is the 55th anniversary of our astronauts first landing there. Incidentally, I happened to be flying out of Okinawa at the time and got to watch it live on TV as it was in the middle of the day there.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve really been enjoying all the political machinations on TV of late. The Republican National Convention was great, and I particularly enjoyed listening to common ordinary people telling of the trials and tribulations that they were putting up with these past three and a half years. I’m well impressed with Trump’s selection of JD Vance for vice president. I also noticed that Trump has been trying to portray himself as a more friendly, caring, and happy family man than what we saw in the past. I too noticed that many of those who spoke did not hesitate to say that our God was the genuine rule and guide of their beliefs.

So, I’ve been hopeful that Trump will become our 47th president, having to run against Joe Biden with the disaster that he has put our country into during his reign. Don’t get me wrong, as I feel sorry for the man enduring his progressing bouts with dementia. Our family went through that during the last days of my father’s life, ending from Alzheimer’s disease. Sadly, Biden’s staff and unknown others were behind the scenes keeping our President’s failing mental state from the public. Having him try to run again as the Democrats' candidate made it look like a sure thing contest for Trump to win.

Now that President Biden has withdrawn from the race, I have a hard time believing that Vice President Kamala Harris will be the chosen candidate to run against Trump. Surely the Democrats behind the scenes won’t let that happen, as she will be sure to lose. It will be interesting to watch. Meanwhile, we the people must keep informed and vote wisely.

That is the way I saw it.

Dick Trail