Monday, August 17, 2015

Weekend Review - The Bear River Fair!

Happy Monday! Hope you had a lovely weekend.

I spent a good chunk of mine at the 104th Bear River Fair. This fair is more of a community event versus the typical fair with rides and carnival games. For a more thorough look, see my post here, a review of my very first time at the Bear River Fair. This year, there was no bingo, but there were two different bands, a pig roast dinner, and no rain! But 90 degree heat. Dislike.

Although I am not from Bear River, nor do I live in Bear River, I am usually pretty involved with the fair. I don't really know how this happened, but so be it. FYI for new readers, this is where Travis grew up and where most of his family lives, so we know a good majority of the fair patrons. Also, it's way cheaper than your typical fair. Cotton candy for $1, popcorn for .75 cents. Train rides for $1, unlimited bouncy house turns if you know the right people (we do!).

This year, I was hosting a table for our book club in conjunction with the Imagination Library which is funded through my United Way chapter. The Imagination Library is a great program that gives free books to kids ages birth to 5. They get one free book a month - that's 60 books! There's no income limitations either, so any kid can be involved, so long as you live in a service area. Our babysitting plans fell through for Saturday and since Travis was playing in the softball tournament, I had Emily as my trusty sidekick.

Nose stuck in a book like the good little reader she is.

The temps reached 90 degrees by the afternoon, but we had our canopy and a lot of shade for most of the day. That's just plain hot! Thankfully, there was a nice breeze and we had plenty of water. And ice cream!

Uh...you've got a little something on your face...

Because this is a a true grass-roots, community type fair, they really celebrate the summer harvest and the local community. Anyone is welcome to bring exhibits ranging from produce and canned goods to crafts and photography. Emily submitted some of our carrots, and she won first place! There were no other carrots in the youth division, but we're ignoring that small detail.

Blue Ribbon Carrots!

After we had our fill of fair festivities on Saturday, we went home and literally crashed. I was in bed by 8pm. I think I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow! 

On Sunday, we went out a bit later as we had some things to take care of at home first. True to form for Minnesota weather, by the time we showed up at 2pm it was barely 70 degrees. Apparently Emily won a t-shirt and sweatshirt the night before, after we had left. The sweatshirt was ridiciously large for her, but just about fit me. I was happy because it was chilly!

Gotta represent good ol'Bear River

We hung around for a few hours, had some pie at the pie social, then packed up our stuff and took our leave. Emily had swindled her Grandpa into a turn at the bouncy house, ice cream, and pie in the space of 2 hours. That girl is good!

It was a great weekend, even if it was exhausting. So I'm going to go grab another cup of coffee...

How was your weekend? 

2 comments:

  1. Looks like a lot of fun! I miss going to our little county fair back home. It was always so much fun to enter items and see if we won any ribbons! Congrats on the blue ribbon carrots :)

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    1. Thanks! It really is fun, and actually kind of relaxing. The whole idea is to just go hang out, chat with your neighbors, watch a softball game and enjoy!

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