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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Fair Time: The Best Time of the Year #western @jacquierogers


A Fair of the Heart
by Jacquie Rogers

We're headed to the Owyhee County Fair and Rodeo in August.  Some of you may recognize the name—Owyhee is where both A Flare of the Heart (Hearts and Spurs) and Don't Go Snaring My Heart (Lassoing a Groom) are set.

When I was a kid, the fair was the highlight of our year.  The four days of the fair was pure euphoria.  The other 361 days of the years were spent in anticipation and preparation for the next year's fair.  As a 4-H member, I showed dairy.  That meant my fellow 4-Hers and I needed to be at the fair from early morning to feed the cows, there all day because the cattle needed to be groomed for show.  We mucked stalls, braided our calves' tails, oiled the halter leather, milked the mature cows, and in general fussed over our animals for those four days.

My friend and his daughter in front of
their cattail arrangement
Still, that was a whole lot less work than the chores at home.  It seemed like a vacation to us, and besides, we might even win that coveted purple ribbon!  

We also baked cakes and cookies, made flower arrangements, sewed clothes, quilts, you name it, for exhibition.  If we'd grown a super-big squash or tomato, we brought that, too.  The nice thing about all those things is they didn't mess up their stalls.

Fair week sure wasn't the time to sleep, though.  We had to be there by 6am and rarely got home until midnight, and then had to do chores before bed. Still, we loved it.  They used to have a little carnival there and we'd ride on the whirly things—upside down was even better—and see who could keep their caramel apple down.  Then it would be show time and we'd head to the dairy barn, woozy and green, to prepare the animals for show.  At night, one of the board members would let us slip into the stands to watch the rodeo. 

On Saturday was the big parade.  One year I was one of the saloon girls on a float with the theme "Women Won the West."  My dad was Black Bart and he played poker with his friend, and my grandpa played the barkeep.  He served iced tea in shot glasses.  One of the Grange members played the honky tonk piano.  We had a great time until my dad shot the real county sheriff (with blanks).  The sheriff clutched his chest and fell to the ground, and then all hell broke loose.  I guess people didn't appreciate their joke.

This year, I'm going to the fair again and I couldn't be more excited. It's just as if I were twelve years old and getting Cleopatra ready for show. (Note: Cleopatra won Grand Champion Showman for me. She wasn't much of a cow, but she sure did like to show off.)

I've been doing two things lately: writing up a storm and working on a marketing plan. Trust me, with four little boys in the house, those two things take every moment of my time.

So instead of baking cookies, drying flowers, and teaching my cattle to lead, I'm creating swag for the fair. My daughter came up with a great idea. She thought it would be good to have temporary tattoos for the kids. Then the kids would drag their mothers to my booth in the commercial building. I opted out of the tattoos because I couldn't figure out any good way to get the tattoos on the kids right away, but stickers, you can just slap them on the kid's shirt.

What do you think?
Designed by Laron Glover
Ninth Moon
And here's my banner.  I have no idea how wide the booth is so I didn't put anything on the sides of the 8' banner.


And some postcards:


And several posters including:


Now I just have to finish the book I'm working on, pack my fanciest duds, and head to Owyhee County.  We're gonna have a great time!

So fess up.  How many of you would love to go to the fair?  What was the highlight of the year when you were a kid?

21 comments:

  1. Love this Jacquie! As a country girl I used to love going to the 'fairs' too, only here in UK we call them 'Agricultural Shows', there are the same things in them, Animals, machinery, Arts and Crafts food, and so on. I love them! I love the little deputy stickers, any youngster would love one of them. Haven't you been a busy girl! The cards and posters will really create interest! Well done they're great!

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    1. Jill, you ought to hop on over and go to the fair with me! Yes, I thought Laron did a great job with the junior deputy stickers. Leave it to her to come up with something classy and fun. Plus, she has a son in just the right age group so he and my grandsons vetted the different versions, and they liked this one best.

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  2. Those are some great ideas for promoting and making it fun. I went to a Halloween arty once where the guests could get temporary tattoos. I think it was just water applied to the "tattoo" sort of like those little designs we put on Easter eggs back in the day. I like the sheriff's star design. That would make a great tattoo.
    The Mecklenburg County fair here arrives in late September or early October. It's nice that it comes when the weather is cooler. As a kid and a teenager, I loved going. It was so exciting. Not raised as a farm girl, I didn't have any contributions in any of the exhibits, but I did like looking at them. I haven't gone in years, but I have my wonderful memories of those times when I did go.
    My highlight of the year as a kid was Halloween. I loved putting together some kind of costume and going through the neighborhood trick-or-treating. Later, I liked going to Halloween parties--and I still do.
    I liked reading your blog, Jacquie, and I really enjoy reading your books.

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    1. That's just it--there's no water in that building. I think the kids would've liked the tattoos better, though. But the two drawbacks were lack of water, meaning we'd have to have water in the kid zone, which means it would get knocked over; and the fact that some parents wouldn't allow their kids to have tattoos, even temporary ones. We're looking into getting this design, or a simplification of it, made into tattoos for other events.

      Oh, and I always loved Halloween, too! So much fun. So much candy!

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  3. Thanks for bringing back my fair memories. My favorite Hereford heifers I showed were Kathy and Ownie. In 1969 I won grand champion with Ownie and dropped the trophy when it was handed to me. Right in the sawdust...I still have the trophy- and purple ribbon tied on it- on my office shelf.

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    1. Ha! I hope your toe was out of the way.

      I showed a Hereford steer one year, but mostly stuck to dairy. We had Holsteins. I had a few champion cows and heifers, but the star of the show was always Cleopatra. She just loved, loved, loved going to the fair. I swear, that cow was an exhibitionist. She also loved ice cream.

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  4. Believe it or not, I did the county fair thing and 4-H, but homemaker side, I did cooking and cooking demonstrations. (Even back then I loved being in front of an audience, Sigh) Also sewing etc.
    The biggest fun for us was the state fair...now that was so much fun.
    Oh the memories, some embarrassing like the rotten egg. Thank you, great fun and best with the books. The buyers will get some wonderful stories. Doris

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    1. Ah, the cooking demonstrations. We could've grown up and had our own shows on the Food Network. Funny things can happen, though, like the time I turned on the mixer and the table cracked in the middle. Next thing I knew, all the ingredients were splattered all over and the mixer, still turned on, was walking across the floor like some alien contraption. I didn't get a ribbon for that one.

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  5. Jacquie,
    This sounds like so much fun! Wish I could attend. And it's always fun to revisit childhood haunts. It lets that part of you live again. Love your swag. Hope you get lots of business!!

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    1. Thanks, Kristy. I'm hoping this will turn out well. Even if I don't sell a ton of books, I'm sure we'll reconnect with some old friends. Bonus!

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  6. That is a lovely blog about the fair! I did not know you belonged to 4H, a fabulous organization for kids! Your swag, banners and posters look great. Too bad I live so far away or I'd be delighted to stop by. I know my two grandchildren would love those sheriff star stickers. Well done! The most exciting part of the Sonoma County Fair in California were the animals, the flowers and the crafts building. I have yet to visit a Missouri Fair. Thank you for a lovely blog!

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    1. Claudia, if I have any stickers left over, I'll send you some. :) As for animals, I can't resist those floppy-eared bunnies or the fancy chickens. Some of those chickens are really beautiful. And of course I still have to look at the dairy to make sure the judges made the correct choices.

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    2. Thank you Jacquie! Yes the rabbits were always my favorites!

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  7. Oddly enough, we didn't have a big 4-H presence in my little town. I wouldn't have been able to join anyhow, since we didn't live in the country and had not livestock, but my cousins who lived in the southeastern part of Oklahoma did 4-H religiously, showed cows, and were very very active. I always envied their jackets!

    At our state fair here, you can show animals, enter jams/jellies/etc., quilts, and all just like a county fair. I don't remember going to a county fair when I was young--guess we just didn't do that since we didn't enter anything. I've missed out on something that would have been a lot of fun, I think!

    Loved this post, Jacquie. Thanks for letting us walk down memory lane with you. You'll have so much fun when you go back to the fair! Lots of wonderful memories.

    Cheryl

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    1. Cheryl, there's a 4-H project book for just about anything you can think of, so it's not just agricultural animals. You can do anything from sewing potholders to leather tooling (and you still get the jacket!). 4-H was a great organization. I'm out of touch now but I hope it's as wonderful as it was when I was a kid.

      Our entire county was focused on the fair, and I don't know a soul who didn't go, so I'm thinking this is one of those things that is unique to wherever you live. But I'm sad you didn't get to participate. Fair time holds a fond place in my heart.

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  8. I was in high school the only time I went to the fair before I married. That was in West Texas. After my husband and I married, we went to the Texas State Fair every year until about five years ago when I had ankle trouble. I love the exhibits, the food, the midway, and the parade. Riding the giant Texas Star ferris wheel is on my bucket list. Maybe this will be the year.

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    1. We didn't go to the Western Idaho State Fair every year--too big, plus Mom's wheelchair didn't negotiate the sawdust very well. I went when I was an adult, though, and really enjoyed it. One of the highlights was the Pronto Pup booth, which was run by my science and German teacher's family. We'd always buy a corndog from him. (He was an awesome teacher.)

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  9. I know you'll have a great time, Jacquie. I love your banners and postcards. The preparation is fun isn't it? I hope you sell tons of your books.

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    1. Thanks! Think you can hop on a plane and make it over here on time? It shouldn't be more than a 12-hour flight, should it? LOL. Oh, and then you have to get to Owyhee County, which is the bigger problem. Not a lot of mass transportation has Owyhee County on their list.

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  10. The banners and stickers look great and I know that you will do really well with book sales. Wish that I could join you for some of the best fun a body can have with the famous Owyhee County Fair and Rodeo. LOL

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    1. I wish you could be there, too, Lynda. Wouldn't we have just the best time!!! Maybe another year we can arrange that. Homedale would never be the same. LOL

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