Your obligatory fair column
Published 1:08 pm Saturday, August 9, 2008
From my short time in the Austin area, I have learned that the Mower County Fair is a big deal; in fact, it’s probably the biggest “deal” of the year.
I have found that rural fairs have many things in common: farm animals, farm equipment and assorted FFA/4-H activities and people; overpriced, grease-saturated goodness in all forms; and people who come to walk around and people-watch.
County fairs are masters of merging those three visitor draws to make a week’s worth of stuff for people to do. Attendees come out of the woodwork, really, for the annual fair.
I did not grow up on a farm, but I could see and smell them from my front yard. An ethanol plant was erected about a few hundred feet from our property, and the Soo Line railroad and mooing cattle could be heard all hours of the day. I don’t know much about farming, but when you grow up in a town of 400, you can’t really call yourself a “city girl” either.
Despite the usual expectations, this year’s Mower County Fair did have some interested additions.
I dragged my boyfriend, Derrick, to the fair Friday night; he comes from a community about twice the size of Rochester, and their fair is quite a bit different, so he was amazed at the barns and barns of animals. I introducted him to the ever-popular tractor pull, an activity that bores me to tears but which he found fascinating, and bombarded one tractor-puller we knew with questions about the event.
The actual reason I attended the fair Friday evening was to cover a new event to both the local and statewide 4-H clubs: llamas.
Llamas, in my very uninformed opinion, are the best farm animals ever. What’s not to like, really?
Anyway, when I told Derrick we were going to a llama show, he thought I meant there were going to be llamas doing tricks or something, like a dog show. I tried to explain that it is a 4-H show, and members’ llamas would be judged and awards would be given out.
Actually, no. The llamas did tricks. You bet.
4-H kids would first walk their llamas as fast as you can walk a llama around in circles a couple times during the showmanship round. Because the judge had no microphone, we had no idea what she was judging them on. They all looked the same to me, except some had more spots than others.
Then comes the “obstacle course,” consisting of very low hurdles the llamas have to be led over, shallow water for them to walk through and other complex barriers to maneuver around. You had to feel bad for the poor kids, tugging at those stubborn animals, who obviously saw no reason to hurry through anything, much less hurdle obstacles.
The llama handlers did teach me a lot about the animals though. Did you know they come from South America and are considered “camelids,” related to alpacas, vicuñas and guanacos? The males can be territorial, and llamas in general can be very wary of people they don’t know, spitting at them if they are irritated. One 4-H member said he fed them the same food as his goats.
So there is your watercooler “Did you know?” discussion for the day. I hope everyone had a great time at Mower County’s “get-together.”
Also, please stop in and say hello to our newest member of the Herald team, David Richards, who will begin as managing editor Monday. David comes from a bi-weekly newspaper in Oakhurst, Calif. Welcome, Dave!