The Country Homemaker Hop #40

The Great Kern County Fair

It's fair season up and down our state right now.  A trip to the county fair is one of my favorite past times.  My hubby and I went to the Great Kern County Fair over the weekend with a few great friends and we took pictures to share...

 We arrived shortly after the fair opened to avoid the long lines that appear as the sun sets.

 We pretty much had the agriculture displays to ourselves since we were there so early.

 The Kern County Fire Department made this cute cutout so everyone could enjoy a fun picture.  My hubby Jerry and our friends Rick & Michelle got to be fire fighters as I snapped this shot.

 Michelle and I even got a shot with Smokey the Bear.    

 I always look forward to walking the gangway at the fair.  I really like seeing all the handmade arts and crafts, though this year there were fewer than usual.

 It was over 100 degrees during our visit, so I was amazed to find this Sno Shack without customers.

 Big Bubba's BBQ must have the largest smoker I've ever seen...  The actual smoker was more than six feet tall and about 9 feet wide.  That's a lot of BBQ.

 No trip to the fair would be complete without FAIR FOOD...  Look at that corn on the cob roasting...

 Just look at the chicken and those kabobs.  They smelled amazing. 

This vendor sold so many fried foods I lost count, but I did read that they had Fried Twinkies, and fried Snickers candy bars. I cannot imagine what that would taste like... batter dipping a chocolate candy bar and frying it does not sound particular tasty to me, but what do I  know?

 The Western Express Railroad runs through the park taxiing folks from one side of the mile long fair to the other.  I wanted to take a ride, but every time it passed us by we were heading in the opposite direction.

 This is the gangway to the rides... This year they even had a water ride.

 The agriculture displays are always a favorite of mine.  This one was really creative I thought.

 This life size statue was designed and built by a local artist.  I've seen his work before.  He works his magic from old car bumpers.  This sculpture of the character Aslan from C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia book series was made from said bumpers.  It was amazing to look upon.  Michelle stood next to it to demonstrate scale for me, and the tip of the tail was almost two feet above her head.  Wow.

 This interesting agriculture display won the best of show ribbon for its expression of theme "The Best in the West".  Way to go to the city of Arvin.  This was a nice presentation highlighting the past, present, and future of our western heritage.

 This display by the Kern County Cattlewomen was really neat too.  The posters on the walls feature real Kern County pioneer cattle women of the past.  A few of them still have family farming/ranching the same homesteads today...

 There were fun activities for kids indoors too like this booth for sand art displays.

 My hubby is a novice wood carver.  This year he entered his first hand carved pieces in the fair and he got ribbons for all of them.  I am so proud of him.  Great job Jerry.

 We were fortunate enough to arrive in time to see a master at work. Kern county artist Bob Smith was there doing a demonstration of how he makes his beautiful desert scenes with a pine block and scroll saw...

  His work truly is amazing.  Look at this one below... we were amazed by the intricate detail of his work, especially considering that he uses a power scroll saw.     

Those blades move so fast.  It would be so easy to slip and lose a large swath of detail.  

Here's Bob holding the piece we saw him finishing earlier...

Here it is done...

 Wow!  The men and women of Kern County outdid themselves this year.  I have never seen so many beautiful jewel colored mason jars full of goodness before.

And- then there was the candy...

lots of it

 and then my real weakness...

 The pies

 and cakes.  

I am glad I was not a judge afterall.   They'd have had to roll me out of there afterwards because everything looked so good.

There are some very talented people in this world...  I left feeling inspired!  Well, that was our trip to the Fair in pictures.  I hope your week has been a good one too.

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