Georgia National Fair Fairway, 2006
Enlargement
We made an excursion down to the Georgia National Fair Sunday with my brother G. and his wife and two daughters.
My sister-in-law had said, “We’ve got to see Okefenokee Joe if he’s there.” I’d looked up on the website and saw he would be. I didn’t know who he was, had missed his show on PBS back in the early 1990s.
We arrived at the fair about 2:30, a 2.5 hour drive from here, having hooked up with G. and M. at a roadside Burger King on the way there. G. and M.’s two daughters are both three and we didn’t know how long they would hold out so we decided to do the agricultural/stock side first and then if the girls tired we would stay on and cross the Midway to give H.o.p. a chance for a couple of rides before heading back home. We saw the next Okefenokee Joe performance wouldn’t be until about 7:00.
H.o.p. wanted to ride a shetland pony for a few minutes for $5. We stood and watched them trying to get the ponies going for the people ahead of us, which took a while as the ponies had determined the thing to do was stand like statues. Then it was H.o.p.’s turn and I turned my back. H.o.p.’s first time on a pony (a pony can feel quite big to kids) and what happens but he was half way on and it ran off with him as far as it could go in its turn-a-wheel space, but I heard a a hubbub and turned back around to see H.o.p. hanging on to the saddle horn, dangling, and the attendant trying to stop the pony which was determined to trot. Seems H.o.p. has my luck with horses as I’ve never ridden once without the horse, no matter how purportedly well-behaved, deciding to run free and wild and scrape me off under the nearest branch. But H.o.p. stuck it out and had his ride and was thrilled.
“I felt like a cowboy bouncing along,” H.o.p. said as to the pony taking off with him, “but I hung on tight.”
We saw a Tennessee Walker competition (wild eyed things with their broken tails standing up high). Saw a barn full of bulls and an Angus competition. Spent a long time going through the science exhibits. By the time we made it to the sheep and goat barns most of the stalls were emptied but there were still a few animals to stand around and ogle. Went to the petting zoo where were camels and llamas and exotic creatures. Doesn’t sound like much but by the time we were done with all this it was after 6:00 and time for a bite to eat. So we missed touring the dairy and chicken areas, which was too bad, but H.o.p. had picked up a “dinosaur egg” to bring home, put in water and hatch. The place is huge and a good bit of time is spent just walking to get from Point A to B to C through a myriad of smells and lots and a suitable annointing of manure.
There were a zillion food stands, lots of bar-b-que, smoke wafting heavy over the fairway. Rested the feet at one of the few picnic tables we found while the kids ate corn dogs and french fries then it was after 7:00 and time for Okefenokee Joe.
Actually, we had thought about going and hitting the rides with H.o.p. and passing up the Okefenokee Joe presentation but rethought that and went along. And glad we did as Okefenokee Joe is a captivating speaker and his show was quite unlike what I had expected. His presentation is not so much about snakes as he uses the snakes to talk about ecology, conservation and responsibility and approaches the subject of wildlife in a respectful, unsentimental way that has nothing to do with Disney or animals as entertainment. It was marvelous, a wonderful education for H.o.p. (and not just kids but for most adults present) which I could have listened to for hours.
After that we hit the Mitchell Showboat Marionette show, which the kids really enjoyed. But a warning is in order. There was a place in front of the miniature showboat for kids to congregate but H.o.p. chose to watch from the bleachers. And it was a good thing because one of the scenes involved a puppet watering a balloon garden, and the puppet playfully sprays the kids down with water from its hose. Some of the kids weren’t so crazy about this, such as H.o.p.’s youngest niece who doesn’t yet speak English and was just confused. Plus it was night, getting very cool and H.o.p. was only in a thin short-sleeved t-shirt with no jacket.
We then were treated to a grand fireworks display, and wrapped up the day with a carousel ride. H.o.p. will ride a pony that’s determined to take off down the fairway, but when it comes to the carousel he always wants to occupy the sole seat provided for those who don’t like to go up and down, which he doesn’t like to do, go up and down. Which I think is funny. Carnival rides are attractive to him, he wants to look at them all, but doesn’t want to ride anything but the carousel. Yet a cantakerous pony is fine, even though he admits he was kind of scared when it took off and left him hanging on the saddle horn. I certainly couldn’t tell he was scared, though. He was all grins and eager. “That was a good pony,” he says, “because some horses just buck and kick off cowboys.”
This wasn’t the fairgrounds of my youth which were pretty seedy, where the promenade to the rides took one through the very dimly lit sideshow area that promised oddities and flesh shows. There was in only one oddity show that I saw, which was a tiny Disneyesque looking cottage with a large sign on a white picket fence that read “48 inch tall woman. West Indies Cultural Exhibit. Educational”. We passed it by, but the sign struck me as what was the odd part. Now I wonder how it was educational. Does the 48 inch tall woman spend time talking with the people so they realize she’s people like them but has a hard time dealing with living small in a big world?
Somehow, I managed not to take a single good picture. Very disappointing. Was really hoping for at least a handful of shots that I could play around with. The only time H.o.p. was standing still long enough for me to get a shot of him was when he was eating. I tried for people shots all day long but everyone, of course, always had their backs turned as they were facing the exhibits. Plus we were always on the move so I never had a chance to stand and look for a picture. Nearly every shot I took was while I was walking, scarcely slowing to click the shutter then hurrying to catch back up with the ever-onward momentum of the stroller.
One niece pretending to pout for the camera
The people in the background are unrelated, watching activity further beyond. Really wish they weren’t standing there.
Another niece fascinated by the camera
Again, the people in the background are unrelated, watching activity beyond. Again, really wish they weren’t standing there.
View On White“>Enlargement
H.o.p. eating french fries at the fair made fresh on the premises from real potatoes (right before your very eyes). Bags of vidalia onions in the background used for onion blossom fries.
Leave a Reply