Dispatches from the Fair, 2014 edition

As another August starts to wind down, another iteration of the Erie County Fair recedes into memory. The Fair is one of our favorite things, and a source of a lot of bright and happy memories, all the way back to the first time we attended, way back in, I think, summer 2001. Here are some photographic memories of our time at this year’s Fair!

You know how the biggest flags around are at Perkins Restaurants? Not so much!

It’s kind of hard to make out, but behind the flag, you can see the long wire that served as the infrastructure for this year’s Big Event, when highwire artist Nik Wallenda (who made big news a couple years back traversing Niagara Falls on one of those) walked over the Fair. Sadly, this took place the day after our day at the Fair. Oh well, maybe next time!

As always, we spent some time at the animal barns (which are now less ‘barns’ than ‘big metal buildings’, which are frankly a lot nicer than the old buildings). I didn’t take too many animal pictures this year, but I couldn’t resist bunnies.

There’s also a new building devoted to more general agricultural information and education, the chief attraction of which is this big machine. I don’t know what this Big Machine does, but those tires are taller than me.

And did you ever wonder how much cut lumber can come out of a single tree trunk? Wonder no more! This display fascinated me.

No, I did not buy this Audrey Hepburn print. I did consider it, but I did not buy it.

I did, though, get one of these NiftyLamps! (That’s not the official name. I don’t actually know what these are called, but they’re cool. You get to pick your shape, size, and colors. I got blue, yellow, and orange.)

We lingered in the horse barns:

And we met the Budweiser Clydesdales!

As well as their tried Dalmatian buddy.

Seeing the Clydesdales in action is always a thrill. They are gorgeous animals.

My favorite part of the Fair each year is the Creative Arts building, which is where all the things made and entered for judging are kept. Painting, sculpture, photography, clothing-making, quilting, the creation of place-settings — it’s all here, and I always spend the most time lingering in this wonderful place. Witness this amazing flower:

And then there was this creation, meant to illustrate the theme of Nik Wallenda’s wirewalk over the Fair:

The judges’ comments are always provided for the public to peruse as well, and I thought that their tone this year was a bit more, shall we say, douchey than usual.