Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Blue Hill Fair

The season up here ends with a bang by making a trip to the annual Blue Hill Fair in Blue Hill, Maine. It's a time to throw caution to the wind and eat all those things you've been denying yourself for a long time; French fries, hot dogs, ice cream, oh, the list goes on and on. Then, of course, the remorse sets in as you realize that you are about to chuck everything up and a trip on the Tilt a Whirl is definitely out of the question!

But, the real fun at the fair is meandering through the midway with your friends and watching the various shows.

The "Hoss" pull was similar to tractor pulls. The animals were beautiful, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for them as they were trying to pull some 3000 pounds of cement blocks along a track.

On a lighter note, the pig races were really fun to watch. These little porkers raced like the wind. I'm sure there was most likely a food prize at the end of the race!

The Great Maine Lumberjack Show was quite entertaining and informative. The "Lumber Jills" were young ladies who were quite comfortable around those razor sharp axes. We were surprised to learn that they learned their skills at the colleges they attended in Maine.

Wow! They sawed through this log in no time flat.

On the log roll, this young lumberjack was trying to distract the lumberjill and dump her in the water by splashing her ..........

She, however, had the last laugh and rolled him off the log!


Another informative demonstration was a young man making cedar shingles the old fashioned way.

With the upcoming elections, we spied one of our favorite candidates - Professor John Frary who is running for the Senate. He is a total hoot and realizes he probably doesn't have a snowball's chance of winning so he tells it like it is. He doesn't have much use for career politicians and vows to be a one term candidate.

Dang! I just remembered I forgot to vote in the Ellsworth American's straw poll.

All in all, a good time was had by everyone and we look forward to next year's fair.

Life is Good!

Giddy

6 comments:

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Hi again Giddy .. those were great pictures at the fair .. I love the way you spelled "hoss" that Main accent makes me laugh it is so cute.
I wonder too about the strain those beautiful horses are put under for the competition .. it is harsh. The description of eating all the things you wanted and then even the thought of the ride is sickening .. LOL !
Love the Professor running for election .. nice to see some humour with it all : )

Anonymous said...

The fair sounds great! We made it to the Windsor Fair for an very short afternoon (mostly to see the poultry!) but I love the hoss pull, the livestock judging, and especially the food judging. Such drama! I may have to go to the Blue Hill Fair next year, it looks wonderful.

Ali

Steven said...

We love the Blue Hill fair ever since we discovered it on one of our many vacations to Maine. We are from Washington State and stay at Owls Head Maine everyother year. Well pretty much every year now. The fair is like a step back in time for us. Just wonderful. From the skillet throwing contest (great fun) to the fireworks to the only maple cotton candy we have ever ever found to the blue berry short cakes with more berries than cake! It is just a wonderful time. I would highly recommend going if you can. Thank you--Steven & Mary

Kerri said...

Did you eat any fried dough???? Gotta eat that! I think Zoey should tell us her fair story. Well, maybe not :)
It sounds like great fun watching all those events. They don't have them at our local fairs, but we have a Woodsmen's Field Days where they do all that (I haven't been, but R has). We have tractor pulls, as well as "hoss" pulls. I'd love to see the pigs race :)
"Impeach Ignorance"...I like that :) I like a candidate who's clear about what he believes in....one who's not afraid to go on record as taking a stand one way or the other. We sure do need a president who can make decisions, don't we?

Anonymous said...

I was thinking fried dough, too! How large is the Blue Hill fair? We haven't been up there in a long time. Yes, we had a hot day yesterday, but today, a nice sea breeze. It was cool enough to add another layer when I worked in the garden.

What is the date of your first frost since you have been there? I know you know, since you keeps such good records.

Giddy said...

Thanks, everyone for commenting on the fun at the fair!

This year's fair attracted about 30,000, according to the local paper. The Fair is truly like going back to a simpler time and lots of fun. We didn't stay for many of the events as none of our party liked lots of crowds, but there was something for everyone, that's for sure!

Ali, we saw some beautiful chickens, and I thought of you!

Kerri, if I had eaten one more calorie (fried dough), I really would have "tossed my cookies"!

Sandy, according to my journal, our first frost usually arrives somewhere between the second and third week of October.

Steven and Mary, I'm happy you come to Maine and enjoy it as much as we do!