County Fair

What is there do in Minnesota in the summer time? The answer is not that simple as there are many choices available.

There is fishing and camping of course – neither of which I like well enough to plan for. I usually like to be spontaneous – but with a little planning you can find a fair or festival to attend every weekend. But, this week you should start with Derby Days in Shakopee. In addition to the parade, there are free concerts, a car show, sidewalk sales and other activities. Derby Days is Shakopee’s own fair - so get out and enjoy it.

Last weekend it was the Scott County Fair. My kids are past the 4-H years but I still go to the fair once or twice a season. This year was no different. I looked at the tractors even though they wouldn’t let me sit on them and play farmer. I also had fun walking through the travel trailers and motor homes. Here I was allowed to sit and play camper, but they wouldn’t let me use the bathrooms. I had to find one of those lovely portable models for that task. There are so many rules to follow.

Of course most county fairs have a midway. Here colors and lights come together to form a family-friendly fantasy land. All traveling fun-shows offer the same opportunities. You can spin your self sick on rides that are torn-down and put-together every five days or so as they rotate from town to town. But if making your self nauseous doesn’t appeal to you, there are games where you are promised to win a fabulous prize every time you play.

I cruised through the Commercial, 4-H, and the Creative Arts buildings. My wife Rhonda likes to look at ALL the stuff in these buildings. But if I spend too much time there, things start to happen to me: I begin to vegetate viewing the carrots and cabbages; get quite sleepy concentrating on the quilts; and get bored with the wood projects. It’s just me, but I need to keep moving so I don’t get stuck in front of the preserves.

But it is the barns that make the fair (I’ll get to the food in a minute). In my opinion the animal barns define the fair. It is because of these structures and their contents that fairs even came to exist. Here you can get close enough to touch and smell the animals

When I stopped in at the swine barn they had one particular plump pig in his pen. You could guess his weight and win a prize. I don’t do well at those contests as I don’t want to risk insulting the poor pig. I usually guess in the low hundreds – you know to encourage the pig into shedding some of those extra pounds. They don’t need all that sloppy fat.

From there I walked to the pork producer’s stand and grabbed a pork burger. Yeah, I know – it’s a strange turn of events. I had also heard from a very reliable source that the pork chop on a stick was worth the money. It was perhaps the finest pork chop I had ever tasted. Granted $5.00 is more than enough for such a treat – but if we don’t do our part the terrorists win.
The irony of it all hits me. You can walk from barn to booth and eat what you just saw - with a few exceptions. I’m hoping that the horse barn is one of those exceptions. It’s best not to ask too many questions though.