Dani's Dirt

“Well, there’s a full moon in the western sky
And there’s magic in the air
Ain’t nothin’ I know of, can make you fall in love
Like a night at the county fair” -Chris Ledoux

Remember that list I created recently? The list consisting of all the things I wanted to do before the wedding and ‘The Great Kentucky Move,‘ well turns out My Someone paid close attention to it and arrived in Oklahoma early in order to attend, what may be, my last Ottawa County Fair beef show with me.

*awwwwwwwhhhhhhhhh*

If you are from a small community, then you know, events like the County Fair are a huge deal, where you see EVERYONE you attended high school with, along with (now that I’m old) their offspring. Let’s also throw in that even though you may not have seen a lot of these people in a while, they all know every little detail of what you’ve been up too.

In the time I’ve known My Someone, we have spent a lot of time traveling, so he has seen very little of “Where-I’m-From, Oklahoma.” Bringing my out-of-state fiance to my hometown felt a little like the movie Sweet Home Alabama…But we pressed on through introducing My Someone to half the people in attendance and the…
“Ex-boyfriend alert!” *tugging his hand* “Let’s get to the other side of this barn”
“Which one? The crazy? I want to see!”

Well, so much for being discrete.

After meandering through all the barns and exhibits it was time for some fair food. My Someone was determined to try his first Indian Taco. An Indian Taco is like a traditional taco, except, the toppings are piled on top of fry bread. He was happy because at my county the Indian Tacos are made by actual Indians, so his experience was authentic.

After the Indian Taco extravaganza, we moseyed over to the steer show. We’re both cattle people, so it quickly became a competition of who could judge the class based on 1. how we thought the judge would pick, and 2. how we personally would pick. We’re nerds, we know.

All (somewhat) joking aside, being able to attend my hometown county fair, whether it is for the last time or not, was extremely high on my “Before I’m gone” list. Between ages 14 to 23, I’ve been there; from showing pigs, to showing cattle, sleeping under the fans in the barns, completing algebra homework leaning against my show heifer, almost being de-pantsed in the show ring by the same heifer, after high school helping friends get ready for the sale, photographing friends showing, having a week each year that consisted of fair fried food goodness and so on and so on. It’s partly through experiences from the county fair I transitioned from a freshman FFA kid, to the agriculture-loving adult I’ve become.

I’d have to say, the icing on the county fair cake, was getting to spend it with My Someone. Our entire relationship has been long distance, and we come from two very different parts of the U.S., so I strongly believe things like this are important, not only to understand each other, but because how can you know where you’re going, if you don’t know where you’ve been?

What’s your favorite part of your home county fair? I want to hear about it.

Editors note: Photos are a product of crappy lighting and an iPhone, because I’m the goober who didn’t want to lug my camera around all night.