Love, Erika

The Dixie Classic Fair

I was so psyched during my trip home to North Carolina in early October because it coincided with the Dixie Classic Fair dates! It was the fair that I grew up going to because we lived in Kernersville during those years, so I have a lot of early memories of fairs there. And these days I have always had a secret wish to take off one evening and head to the fair by myself just so I can take pictures. With kids in tow, it doesn't leave much time or opportunity for creativity, so it's been many years since I got to satisfy my love of fair pictures (and I'm still not there!).

Unfortunately it was not to be the case this time either, even though I was going with all adults. Too bad it drizzled rain most of the time! That was a real bummer although we still had a great time and I managed to salvage a few shots all the while sheilding my camera from the rain inside a plastic Target bag that I found in my mom's car en route.

Fair food! What in the world would I choose as my fair indulgence this year, in the South? I hardly knew what kinds of things they had there anymore, it's been so long. I've about had it with pizza and sausage & peppers because you can get that ANYWHERE. Ugh. What would be the perfect regional fare at the fair? There were certainly a zillion BBQ stands everywhere and that would have been great, but I could get that elsewhere. And I definitely was not going to be one of these..... certainly not something you can get anywhere else but I wasn't into it. :) Two great tastes that taste weird together.

My mom had the perfect idea--Moravian chicken pie, complete with a thick slice of pound cake.  It was more than perfect!  It was served up in the brick buildings near the main entrance where all the churches and civic organizations house their food offerings. Too bad I never got a pic of the chicken pie (but it was soooo good and fresh), but I had the pound cake tucked safely in my pocket just waiting for a shelter from the rain. :) That baby wasn't going anywhere.

Here's Jill and Derek enjoying their bloomin' onion. It was a good one! And who's the so-called photographer who left the lemonade straw in the middle of the frame? Ooops.

And lastly, the funnel cake that nearly did us all in. (so nice to be able to call it "funnel cake" or "elephant ear"... the only names that make sense to me! In New England it's just "fried dough".)

I was very interested in all the food competitions...... rows and rows of cookies, poundcakes, biscuits, and breads all lined up with tags and ribbons. I want that job!

One of the last things we saw was the vegetable barns and agricultural products....including bees! This honey display was very beautiful with the light behind it.

Deerfield Fair 2010

As usual, it rained at least in part during Deerfield Fair weekend. We had planned to go with the kids on Thursday, but it rained, and it also POURED down rain on Friday, so we were unable to go with the kids. 
However, I had an alternate plan in place that actually worked out! I had arranged to go with my friend Karen on Saturday to take some family photos for her there and luckily Saturday was a beautiful day. It was the first time in years I have been to a fair without a child in a stroller! So that was fantastic for me, to spend some hours there without worrying about a little kid. I even had a chance to dart off to shoot some photos just for me, which I LOVE. Some year I just need to go completely by myself so I can do all the stuff that I want to do.

So here are some of my favorite shots that I got that day. I love much fun it is to do funky processing for stuff like this.

 

 
 

 

I even rode the Tilt-a-Whirl with the girls! I NEVER ride rides because they make me feel like I'm going to die. And I'm pretty sure I almost did. Katie was actually laughing at me, she was like "you're not taking any pictures!"  So I whipped off a few frames in the middle of my panic attack. LOL

 

 

And of course the chickens are pretty cool too. That's my favorite animal barn, the fancy poultry!

 

Hillsborough Co. Fair

 
Wow, 2 fairs in 2 weeks!  Exactly one week after the Hopkinton Fair, we hit the Hillsborough County Fair in New Boston. It was so small, but much closer this time so in our eyes, more valuable.  It was as if the midway company packed up and went right down the road to New Boston, because it was the EXACT same rides as it was the previous week. I'm 100% sure that's exactly what happened. So we were glad to see Drew's Super Slide right there and ready for him. He and Dave went down that slide time after time after time, to the point where eventually the girl taking the tickets stopped accepting tickets from them. She told them to just go ahead up there! LOL.

Dave at one point shoved tickets in my hand an pushed me through the gate. So I begrudgingly crawled up the high staircase to the top like I was walking the green mile. It didn't look that high from the ground. At the top, I got situated, got Drew on my lap, and proceeded to freak out and somehow Drew slipped out and went down the slide by himself and I slinked back down the steps. LOL. I can't help it, rides freak me out and I panic. HELL NO, I wasn't going down.

The worst moment of this whole fair was when Drew's balloon slipped off his wrist and floated up into the sky. That kid hollered and howled like it was the end of the world. Poor little kid. It was so sad. But so TEXTBOOK.

The food option this time was Schnitzel on a Stick!  Usually at these fairs you see the same food vendors over and over again (oh! the carnie life!), but I had not seen this German one yet so it looked good to me! Very unique.  And a big hit with my two kidlets, too. That, and the lemonade. You never saw so many people fight over one cup of lemonade in your life. We ended up having to get a 2nd one.

We saw some cool animals, neat plants, huge pumpkins, and witnessed a 4H dog show, bunny show, chicken show, sheep show, and horse show. LOL. Lots going on there.

 

Another highlight was the fact that Drew rode another ride for the first time: the carousel!  And I rode it with him. That is one ride I can definitely do. :) LOL

 

 

The Hopkinton Fair

This was our first year going to the Hopkinton Fair in Contoocok, NH. Evidently a "Labor Day Weekend Tradition in New Hampshire," explains their website.  I thought it seemed like a fun thing to do--I love fairs!

 

The best part was when Drew rode his first ride!!  We never thought he'd actually go down the slide, but he knew he wanted to do it and he sure did. They went down FOUR times!  He was shrieking and cackling the whole way down.

 
 

The Deerfield Fair 2009

We're big fans of going to the fair on Thursday.... no lines, no crowds, no traffic, no walking for miles back to our car. And plenty of room for taking photos! I have to say that the fair is one of my favorite photo ops of the entire year, and now that Drew is getting old enough to enjoy it, there's even more to take pictures of.

When we first got there, Drew could not even walk, he was so overcome with sensory overload. He was just dragging his feet and pretty much came to a complete halt. The sights and sounds were all just so much to look at so Dave just had to pick him up and let him look.  He was looking at all the people, the rides spinning around, the HUGE ferris wheel....

We visited all the animal barns and Drew was so excited.  He was making all the animal sounds, and making the sign for "cow". He had no fear petting the cows even though they were so huge.

I asked Drew if he was having fun, and if he liked the fair, and he made the sign for "yes."

 
Why is it that I think all year about fair food, and yet when I'm there I can't find anything I want? I guess I'm paralyzed by possibility. This year we got Italian sausage ($7), french fries ($3) and a funnel cake ($5).  Drew totally loved the funnel cake and helped me eat it.  Pricey, but worth a splurge once a year!

 

Drew did SO awesome at the fair. He walked the entire way. Parker was in the stroller so there was no riding option for him, and it was a looooong way to walk. Such a trooper!  We even had him skip his nap so that we could go during the time that we wanted to, and he was completely unphased by the lack of rest. Until the end. He fell apart right at the very end just as we were leaving so the timing was perfect. Also some raindrops started falling just as we were walking out of the exit gates so really we couldn't have asked for anything more.  He was a complete insane mess the rest of the night but we just had to laugh. Poor guy. He went to bed early, and by that time he was just a blubbering mess who could only say "ma ma ma ma ma"......  Big day for Drew.

Oh yeah, Parker was there too. He just did what he does best, looked cute and smiled a lot. He slept most of the time, and we hardly knew he was there!  Good baby.

Click here for the whole photo album.

The Deerfield Fair

Yes, I dropped off the face of the earth and have managed to find my way back. Drew and I have both had a horrible cold this week so we've just been concentrating on breathing and not much else.

Yesterday we decided to get to the fair PRONTO because the forecast is nothing but torrential flooding rains the rest of the weekend. It was go Thursday, or go not at all.  So we went and had the best experience we have ever had, because there were no lines at all, and no crowds. We went right in at the gate, and got to liesurely choose which fair foods we wanted, and never got stuck in a mass of people. It was completely enjoyable and not overwhelming or aggravating as it normally is.

I finally found a corn dog!! I must have been blind all these years because I swore I never saw any corn dogs anywere before. But they were everywhere this year. My treats were a corn dog and a soup bread bowl (with cream of broccoli soup) and Dave had onion rings, and 2 kinds of burgers both of which were not that good. The first one tasted like those soy-based burgers they serve in the public schools, and the second one was a buffalo burger that is usually pretty good but this time was also lacking. So he didn't eat much of either one of them. It is unfortunate you only get one stomach to go to the fair with. I saw plenty of things I wanted to eat but had no room for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought the light on these flags was so amazing just as we were leaving.....

Deerfield Fair: 2007

Today we ventured out with Drew to the Deerfield Fair. We are getting sooo brave with taking him places, I take him regularly to the grocery store and Target these days, no biggie. Anyway, we took off early-ish this morning at 9:30 to try to beat the crowds and traffic. The weather was gorgeous at 70 degrees, low humidity and lots of sun. Bad for photos, though.

Drew did so great and slept on the way there, and the only time he really got upset was when it was time for him to eat. That was frustrating because there is nowhere for parents of little kids to feed/change/sit down with them at all. It was kind of annoying. I had brought two bottles of breastmilk for him, and tried to feed him standing up because there was nowhere to sit but he did not want to take that bottle. I think he was just waaaay overstimulated and worked up, and kept looking around at everything (the trees are very fascinating apparently) and would not eat. So finally I just had to cop a squat on some tree roots and cover myself with a blanket and feed him the good old fashioned way. Then he was fine (after barfing it all up all over Dave) and rode around a good while longer with no protest, dozing on and off.

Our fair food choices of the day?  For me it was Cream of Broccoli soup in a bread bowl, and a $5 root beer float.  I thought for that price they could have put some rum in it or something, but apparently not. Also I got an iced coffee on the way out but the lady put so much cream in it that I couldn't drink it. Bummer. Dave enjoyed onion rings, a cheeseburger, and funnel cake fried dough.

Deerfield Fair

Hope everybody is having a good weekend!  Yesterday we went to the Deerfield Fair and it was an absolute madhouse. What is normally a 30 min drive took about 2 hours. Then it was so packed it was hard to get anywhere.  But we had some good food: chili dog, soup in a bread bowl, cheese fries, candy, and fried dough.  You can visit the whole Deerfield Fair 2006 album here. 

Went to AC Moore today and finally found those dang gold letters that I need to finish that beach layout I did this summer. I must be blind because I was never able to see them the past 15 times I went there looking for them, and I had just about given up.  But I did also pick up some new yarn and #10.5 knitting needles to start my hat that I'll be doing. I want something super chunky. Haven't quite finished the scarf yet, but it's on schedule to be done this week, then my cubie will teach me how to bind off and I will wear it with pride.

Dave and I went to Panera for the first time for lunch today, oooh boy! I have had their bagels at work sometimes when people bring them in, and they are so good. Needless to say the lunch paninis are awesome also, and Dave and I got 2 different kinds and had a half of each. I think they were the Smokehouse Turkey and Frontega Chicken. That rosemary onion foccaccia was something else! 

I made my October banner using the Sophisticated Spook kit from Designer Digitals.... love their stuff!

Deerfield Fair

Friday afternoon we went to the Deerfield Fair.... always a good time, even if it is the same thing year after year. I love the poultry barn--all the "fancy" chickens make me laugh! And of course the food, who can deny fair food is one of the greatest experiences of fall? This year's choices were a loaded baked potato (w/cheese, broccoli, and bacon), and a drippy, wonderful chili dog that was so long the ends stuck out an inch on either side of the bun. It was fabulous. <sigh> I really, really love the photos that I got. It's wonderful to be able to capture the images just like I wanted to have them come out.

Deerfield Fair photo album