Don’t let the opportunity of taking your family to the county fair pass you by. It’s easy to have other things to do on a hot summer day, but going to the fair is like going to a long away destination, that happens to be in your back yard. It happens once a year in counties all over the United States, and there are similarities and there are differences. Place a comment below where your county fair is and what makes YOUR county fair unique, and make sure you read everyone’s comments to learn something new!
Here are our ten reasons we make sure to visit a county fair every year with our family:
- Farmers at the County Fair
The occupation of “farmer” has changed so much over the past 100 years, the past 50 years and especially the past 20 years. I am no means an expert on farming but I have been on a few farms throughout my life, and driven down many county highways like the rest of you. We want our children to appreciate the work a farmer does and we can accomplish this by showing them the animals and crops at the fair as well as talking to farmers and their families. Let’s show our children where their food comes from, and the people who have chosen to grow it for us.
- Families at the County Fair
Not only is the farmer important but the families also work hard to build a lifestyle around farming. Rarely would you see a single farmer at the fair, their families are with them. The lifestyle of farming and the close-knit community of the people is something I want my children to experience, just like I’m sure farmers want their children to experience an urban environment. My children’s questions were “What are your days like?”, “Do you spend all your time working on the farm?”, “Do you only eat the food you grow or do you shop at the grocery store?” (I thought that one was funny, but they won’t know unless they ask!)
- Food at the County Fair
FAIR FOOD!!!!!! Ok, Fair Food is one of my favorite parts of the county fair. You cannot go wrong eating all day at the fair. It’s a special treat that we look forward to experiencing every year. Marty and I love looking for the BBQ food trucks while the boys like pizza, hamburger or hot dog. Then we move onto the treats!
Shaved ice, pretzels, cotton candy, my favorite funnel cakes and on and on. We usually share everything so we can all experience the tastes. The county fair we go to has an Amish Pretzel booth that is absolutely amazing!
- Smells at the County Fair
There really isn’t any other place where the different smells can fill the air so fully. The smells vary from yummy, to welcoming, to yucky and stand-offish. Many farmers will tell you they love all the different smells that go into farming and sometimes cannot even tell them apart. For us outsiders I would say there are definitely smells that attract me to the fair like the food, flowers and fresh air.
Then there are smells that make me more stand-offish like manure, animal smells and water troughs. We like to make sure we appreciate all smells and understand the importance of them all.
- Sounds at the County Fair
My favorite sound of the county fair is the cow bell. The cow bell is at the county fair for special events beginning, calling attention to a specific award or contest or just hung around a cow’s neck. I don’t care how it is used I love it!! Other sounds we hear is, of course, the sounds of animals. When our kids were really little we taught them the sounds of animals and sometimes they were really just made up sounds, like oink, oink. At the fair you will find not one pig that says “oink, oink.”
They make a lot of different sounds and it is awesome to experience the sounds of each animals. It would be easy to listen to the animal then record your child making the sound they just heard. Add the sound to a few pictures from the fair and presto you have a digital animal sound book for your child, made by your child! Not only do we hear animal sounds but we hear loud tractor engines, fair rides and another favorite musical acts!
Last year we visited on the day of the big tractor pull and that was super loud!
- Entertainment at the County Fair
The entertainment at a county fair can vary from a solo artist singing self-written songs in the beer tent to national recording artists performing to an arena sized crowd. We like both! If you review the county fair’s website then you can plan your day when there is entertainment you enjoy. We like the roaming magicians and balloon artists too.
- Activities at the County Fair
Duck races, pig races, corn kernel digging, peddle tractor pull and axe throwing are just a few of the many activities a county fair could offer. We always make sure we make two specific activities; first the duck and pig races and second the peddle tractor pull. I explained to my kids that on the farm kids often times will race their animals and that this activity at the county fair is an extension of that fun.
The peddle tractor pull race takes up about two hours of our day but my boys wouldn’t miss it because they are a part of the race. We sign up during the announced sign-up time. This is always fun because we go to a fair about three hours away from our urban town. So, when we sign up and say our city’s name the people are always like “Wow, you came a long way to race.”
Then they wait for their age group and sit down on the chairs in a line with the other kids and wait their turn. During this time, they talk to the other kids, ask questions about being a farmer’s kid, about school and they always manage to get to the topic of video games. Typically, they place towards the bottom, but they don’t care, they just like being a part of the fun. Besides, they usually get milk and cheese as a participation prize, can’t beat that!
- 4-H at the County Fair
Most of the exposure to farming life and the family culture shines through at the 4-H buildings. I know even city kids can be involved in 4-H but in my community, it is mostly the county kids that are involved.
We love to look at the construction, sewing, baking, art, crops, clothing and well…all of it! We are in awe of the hard work that goes into all the items displayed and talk about their daily life and how much time they have to do other things like our kids do. Every time we leave the 4-H buildings we always say, “Our kids should be in 4-H”
- Family Time at the County Fair
Our family looks forward to going to the fair all summer! We put it on our calendar before we make our other plans such as camping and traveling.
It is such a fun thing to do together as we learn about farming and farming families, play games, watch the musical act and eat our favorite fair food. We look forward to reading about your county fair in the comments below.
- Mid-Way at the County Fair
Our kids love the Mid-Way at the fair, unfortunately their parents do not allow them to ride the mid-way rides but they are welcome to play the games. The rides range from the kiddy helicopter ride that goes around and round, to the huge spinning thingy that raises in the air and then comes back down all while spinning around at faster than fast speeds, to the potato sack slide (this one we allow.) This part of the fair is not as important to me for our family as the other parts, but I know many families that love the rides and games. My kids can bring their own money to play the games, and we always talk about “chance” and “probability” so they can get the best prizes for the money they are spending. In the end I think what I love most about the Mid-Way are the many sounds that can be heard throughout the fair from the rides and games.
Did you go to the fair this year? Are you looking forward to going next year? Tell us all about it in the comments below!
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