It's County Fair Time!!

It is county fair time in the Midwest from what I can tell.  First there was the Sikeston Rodeo then the Southeast Missouri (SEMO) County Fair, then the Altenburg Fair.  Now, prior to my moving to the Midwest for the second time (the first being when I went to Purdue) I had been to only a handful of county fairs.  The most memorable for me was the Greeley Stampede when my mom, brother and I went to watch Faith Hill and Tim McGraw play.  More specifically Mom and I went to the concert and my brother hating country music opted to stay at the hotel and watch TV.  Regardless we spent the day enjoying the festivities of fair life.  For my brother and I that meant buying a wrist band to ride all the carnival rides we could handle and try our best to talk Mom into buying us funnel cake, cotton candy, and anything else that can be battered and fried.  I remember that weekend fondly. 

Up first: The Sikeston Rodeo

This was a fun event because it was in fact a rodeo and not a fair.  Meaning they had all the standard events: calf roping, calf wrestling, barrel racing, bronco riding, and my favorite: bull riding!  It was a small event (albeit it is one of the largest rodeos in the country) but it manages to attract quite a crowd.  There was a concert at the end as well where Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich played.  If you are a country music fan you will know those are some HUGE names to be playing a small town rodeo.  

Calf roping!

I believe this is calf roping as well..

I think that is a bull running but I might be wrong.

Next up: SEMO County Fair

This was a true county fair in every imaginable way.  It takes place in a giant field, you park in the grass in long rows, there is fried EVERYTHING, carnival games, stock showings, an area for the tractor and truck pull competitions, and plenty of families running around enjoying it all.  As always - pictures are better than words. 

Nothing like some pork butt to fill your belly!!!  LOVE a good turkey leg though.

See - LOVE a good turkey leg.  No matter how graceful you are, there is no good way to eat a turkey leg.  You end up with oil all over your face and hands and you generally just look like a glutton... but they are oh so tasty!

Tractor Pull:  Basically a show of  "my tractor is bigger/better than your tractor."  The gist is people modify their tractors to be these super pulling machines.  A variable weight is attached to the back of the tractor and as they progress down the track the weight increases until the tractor can no longer move.  It is a LOUD and dirty (see the exhaust) event that is surprisingly popular.  I was warned to bring ear plugs for the event - thank goodness I did!  It doesn't get much more hick than this I don't think!

Stock showings!  At county fairs and showings like this, it is easy to see that barnyard animals are in fact beautiful.  Cows are stunning when they are clean ans washed... but when they are lazing in the mud pits... not so much.

The quintessential ticket booth to buy tickets for the super unsafe carnival rides

Standard carnival games with the huge stuffed animals luring in small children and show-off men.

The best ride ever - the Ferris Wheel!  Its size and spokes all lit up is the beacon of the Carnival.  Seen from afar it calls the young and the old towards it for some good old family fun.  Love a good Ferris Wheel.

Lastly (for now): The Altenburg Fair

Now, some fairs have things they are famous for and the Altenburg Fair is no exception.  The Altenburg Fair is home to world class mule jumping and some of the best grilled cheese ever made.  There was also rumor that they served chocolate covered bacon which might be the most perfect fair food ever made, but we were sad to discover this year they were not selling it...  The mule jumping, however, is very, very real and the grilled cheese tasty.  

Like the SEMO fair, there was a small stock show.  How cute is this goat?  I never thought I would want to cuddle a baby goat but wanted to take him home - cutest kid in the pen. 

Baby sheep!  Awww

Little lambs - oh the cooing from all the girls was almost too much to take.  I wanted to scoop them up and take them in my purse.

PIGGY! Lazy lazy piggy at that... but small and also too cute for words.

The famous grilled cheese stand!  Notice the two crazy long lines... we are talking about grilled cheese here people!

 Ok... so after getting our cute fix with the small baby farm animals, getting our grilled cheese and drinks we headed down to the arena to watch some world winning mule jumping.  At first I was not sure if the mules were jumping or if people were jumping over mules in a monster truck style event.  You know "how many mules can this man jump?  Line them up and lets see... oh my!! did you see that?  That man just jumped 7 mules!  Ladies and gentleman, we have witnessed history here tonight with a 7 mule jump!!"

No no - it is the former, the mules do the jumping in a type of reverse limbo.  Instead of the bar being lowered it is raised until the mules can no longer clear the bar.  There are 3 classes of mules separated by height and my favorite by far was the smallest mules.  They all stood 47" or less at their withers (where the neck meets the back.)  The winning small mule jumped 54".  It was awesome.  The mule, named Stingray, gets behind the rod and curtain so you can barely see his ears and all of a sudden he leaps into the air and over the bar.  It is so playful!  The larger mules are not as exciting but those are the ones I got pictures of, and a few very short videos.  Enjoy!

Leaping mule!

I sung the praises of the Ferris Wheel at the SEMO fair but at the Altenburg fair... I could only laugh.  This Ferris Wheel I believe might be the world's smallest Ferris Wheel.  My guess is it is about 15 ft in diameter.. maybe... with only 6 swings and a maximum capacity of 12, it was like the baby goat... just too adorable for words.