FAIR

Our last place to visit while in Elko was the Georgia Naiional Fair in Perry.  This is the view from the east gate where we entered.

 

We arrived in time for the first of the NTRL ropers.

This is the largest fairground we have ever visited.  It is beautifully laid out and maintained.  There are various stages and arenas scattered around plus other specific venues such as the circus tents and the seal show tanks.  There were 5 of these cows.  This is one of the more interesting.

My first pink tractor.  This is for all my girls who love pink.

Our second stop was the blacksmith who touted his craft like a magic show.  He delivered what he promised and made a very good 20 min. show. 

This tower formed the middle of the fairgrounds so you can always orient yourself.

Another funny cow.

We spent quite a bit of time inside the biggest crafts fair building ever!  It took at least 1/2 hr to walk around looking at all the quilts on display from the rafters.  We admired the carvings, the pine needle baskets, the art, and on and on and on.  I particularly liked this horse made from junk.  Yes that is a clock and directly under it is a shoe last.  If you look closely you can see tools, chain  and shovels.

Nice full sized sculpture.

American flags everywhere, I was glad to see.

After the blacksmith we picked out several shows we thought we might like then ate lunch while we waited for show times.  This is the first all female lumberjill show--the Axe Women Loggers of Maine.  Very entertaining.  The pool was for the log rolling competition, of course.

Mutton busting is always fun.  These sheep didn't have any harness to hang on to--only their woolly hides!  Competitors included boys and girls from ages 4-10.

Something usually hidden from the public--cattle grooming stations.  This could easily be considered added entertainment.

 

One of the permanent stages was for a comedy wild west show.  It was hilarious slapstick punny comedy in the old Vaudville tradition.

 

 

The sheriff and his deputy vs. Bad Bob and his crony. 

The sheriff is victorious!

Also not to be missed was the pig races.  This was so much fun I stood watching and completely forgot to take pictures!!!

One of the 'strolling' entertainments--Tadpole the Clown.  These mini shows moved around the fairgrounds so everyone would have a chance to see them.

Tired and on our way out we were waylaid by the sea lion show.  We were standing at the back of the crowd but managed to see most of the show.  Very good!

Tired or not, we had to watch a bit more roping before we left.

Another strolling show--Matt's Family Jam consisting of a 7 year old boy on percussion, a 10 year old girl on guitar and mandolin, the woman driving on sax, and two adult men on guitars, mandolins and fiddles.  They were all very talented.

We had a great time at this fair.  Everything was very well managed and arranged, the entertainment was all top notch.  No wonder it is called a 'national' fair. We recommend it to everyone.

 

 

Next day we drove on south to Valdosta, GA. for a couple of days.  We had hoped to visit with friends Cathy and Terry Cook, but they weren't available until our last day.  Meantime we caught up on some chores and  toured around town on the bike.  We hit the local farmers' market for fresh vegs and some more jelly and honey. We couldn't leave Ga without pecans so we found the South Georgia Pecan Co. and stocked up on pecan bits for baking and dark chocolate covered pecans for snacking.  We also indulged in some dark chocolate covered cranberrys.  Yum!

We stayed at this rv park before.  Since then it has been spruced up and we had a much nicer stay.

We used the down time to relax from our touring and get reenergized for our next bit of exploration.

 I finished this puzzle.     

 

 

We finally managed to enjoy some quality visiting and some good barbeque with Terry and Cathy.

 

 

Next stop--Florida

Louise and Duane