St. Lawrence County Fair - Part 2

I was touring the St. Lawrence County Fair in the village of Gouverneur (see also Part 1, yesterday) and arrived at the Poultry Barn. Alas, New York State had banned poultry exhibits because of bird flu, so there were no fancy chickens to look at. But the Poultry Barn held rabbits:

And sheep:

These were Suffolk Sheep and there was also a dairy goat exhibition:

I walked from there to the Maple Syrup Building. This was, after all, St. Lawrence County, one of the largest maple syrup producers in the state:

And then I hit the colorful midway:

It was too early for much action, and most rides were just getting ready to open. But it was a great time to see the colorful displays against a blue, cloud filled sky:

The Monkey Maze looked like fun:

There were rides and slides and refreshments and games and junky souvenirs. The crowds were just beginning to arrive:

Tee-shirts and floor mats with any smart-alecky saying I could imagine:

Lemonade, popcorn, hamburgers, pizza and hot dogs:

But I'd seen everything by then, and began making my way back to the car. I walked between two barns, where a backhoe was cleaning up soiled bedding from the cow barns:

I almost stopped again at the petting zoo, but changed my mind when I saw how crowded it had become. So I continued on to my parked car and headed for home:

St. Lawrence County Fair - Part 1

It was a lovely Friday and I was in no mood to be doing chores, so I drove to the village of Gouverneur to see the St. Lawrence County Fair. It was a fifty mile drive to Gouverneur, where I turned down a pleasant neighborhood road and and continued on it until I saw the fairgrounds:

I paid my admission, parked my car and walked toward the action. When I saw the words, "Free Petting Zoo," however, I made it my first stop:

There were Ring-Tailed Lemurs and screeching parrots:

Camels, sheep and goats:

A kangaroo:

And spotted Llamas:

Zebu miniature cattle:

Miniature horses and these partial albino, miniature donkeys. Unsurprisingly, the donkeys were the friendliest of all the animals:

This is dairy country and I toured several barns filled with cattle of various breeds:

And, of course, lots of Holsteins:

I arrived early, before the big crowds arrived, so the barns were busy with people cleaning their animals and stalls:

This woman was washing her Holstein heifer. But I still had lots to see at the fair, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

St. Lawrence County Dairy Princess Festival

I attended last year's Dairy County Princess Festival and enjoyed it very much, so I'd been looking forward to it this year. The day finally arrived and I drove to the village of Canton, the St. Lawrence County Seat, where the festival was being held in the park:

There were lots of fun activities for children and lots of refreshments for those of us who love to eat:

The fountain was filled with rubber ducks but I failed to find out what they were used for:

There was a petting zoo with a Jersey calf, a Holstein calf and a Guernsey calf:

At least I think this was a Guernsey calf. It was the friendliest of the three and this boy sure took a shine to it:

I treated myself to an ice cream cone:

And crowds of other people were treating themselves to hot dogs, hamburgers, sodas, french fries, maple candy, cotton candy, barbequed chicken and just about anything else you can think of:

I don't really know what this vendor was selling, but it was so colorful that I snapped a photo:

Rainbow sno-kones and cotton candy:

A Christian summer camp, located near my place, was once again hosting a dunking contest. People who could hit the target got to see the man plunged into the tank of cold water:

And it must have been pretty easy to hit the target because the man was getting soaked quite often. I suppose that's why so many people enjoy watching it:

It was almost time for the Dairy Princess Parade to begin, so I walked back across Main Street toward where I'd parked my car. A crowd had already formed on this quintessential small town scene and I was looking forward to the parade. I'll post photos of the parade tomorrow:

North Country Harvest Festival - Part 2

I left the pony ride area and headed for a large barn, an arena for horse shows, to see what else the Harvest Festival had to offer. A new group of tourists had just been loaded on the wagon, ready to take the tour I had just finished:

As I entered the big show barn, a couple of old fashioned farm collies sat peacefully near the door. I thought that they must be exceedingly well socialized for the farm to leave them loose, unattended, with all those visitors and children. And indeed they were well socialized, calm and friendly:

Inside the arena were tables filled with local crafts for sale, games for the kids, a bouncy castle - and this, apparently was the hay maze. It was put together out of a single thickness of hay bales and covered with a blue plastic tarp. Only small children could use it and I saw two girls entering to give it a try:

There were lots of pumpkins, of course, and a booth for painting them. Another booth offered face painting for children:

There was a two stall petting zoo. The first enclosure had rabbits and ducks:

And the second one had a goat, a sheep and a pony:

There was a booth where kids threw eggs at pictures of monsters. I thought this was a marvelous idea and lots of fun for the kids. I was glad I didn't have to do the clean up, though:

It was a lovely autumn day and I slowly walked back toward the entrance:

I passed another wagon load of visitors as I walked back toward my parked car:

As I headed for my car, I passed a family whose kids had clearly been to the face painting booth and one of the calm, friendly farm collies. It had been a brief but enjoyable autumn excursion and given me the opportunity to learn more about my new home territory: