A glimpse of the Riley County Fair!

At playgroup on Friday, I was talking to another mum and she mentioned taking her children over to the County Fair in the morning to see the animals, and I thought it'd be fun to head over there too. Michael agreed. We headed out on Saturday morning, early enough to head to uni first and then go to the Fair and be home before the day reached its predicted high and before the predicted storm.

The morning turned out to be lovely, there was a spot or three of rain on our way into K-State, but other than that the sky was nicely overcast, keeping the temperature down. Not that this was going to matter because we took the bus from uni to the north end of Cico Park and the County Fair. It seemed to be free entry, so after looking at the horses and cows, we wandered in and started looking at the sheep, pigs, rabbits and ducks, as mentioned a day or two ago. And as Michael had his camera, I asked him to take photos of the animals, and he took some lovely photos. In fact, all these photos are his.

 This rabbit had the most amazing black markings around its eyes - it would have been wearing eye liner.

Most of the pigs were taking it easy. They were very big, it's easy to forget how big some animals can grow.

The sheep were my favourite. Michael's favourites were the rabbits pictured above and the guinea fowl. Jimmy wasn't sure what to make of it all but he tried to pat a sheep that was more interested in the opportunity to eat. Don't worry, I moved Jimmy's hand away before there was any real danger.

We went inside the main building after walking through a few more sheds and found the displays and competition pieces. Fruit, vegetables, flowers, cakes, insects, fossils, minerals, photos, quilts, knitting, weaving, crochet, woodwork, collections, outfits (best made and best bought), breads, pies, jams, preserves, and even Lego dioramas.

These collections were incredible! Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn to the insect collections the moment I noticed them. Jimmy couldn't quite work out why I was so excited.

 This was the prettiest cake, as far as we were concerned. The flowers were so beautifully made.

There was some voting for the People's Choice here, but we didn't contribute, and Jimmy would probably have told us to keep moving too. The plates did have some nice looking produce on them.

 This detail comes from a much bigger Lego diorama, depicting a modern army base under fire. There were many others, including dragons, a body of water with above and below the surface depicted, and a boy walking his dog.

This little doll, so simple and so sweet.

We had lunch at the kiosk and then took the bus home. We toyed with the idea of coming back after 6pm to see the rides and other sideshow excitement but Jimmy was pooped, and it was really, really hot. Plus, we had some new books to read...

Thank you Riley County Fair! We really enjoyed our morning out there - it was well worth it! We were also pleasantly surprised by how mild the morning was (it heated up not long after we returned home). Fun times were had and Jimmy is now better prepared for things like the EKKA and the Warwick Show, but perhaps not the rodeo.

All photos taken by Michael.