Lebanon Fair

We had a terrific weekend at the Lebanon Fair! The weather was absolutely perfect: sunny, with a lovely breeze, and NO humidity! We saw so many friends and had so much fun visiting!

We arrived at the fair on Friday at 11:45AM. The girls rushed off to get their exhibit hall entries entered while Sam and I unloaded and set up the goat barn. We had 47 goats in the barn this year! Friday, as usual, was a flurry of activity as all the exhibitors settled their animals and set up their tack areas. And, as per tradition, we had Friday Night Fair Food for dinner. Sam and I had a yummy sausage with peppers and onions grinder! Abby was working her job on Friday night at the petting zoo on the fair grounds and Rachel and Samantha tagged along with her.

Saturday morning we woke to a brisk morning which felt wonderful! Sam and Nathalie left to take care of the animals back home while I made breakfast and the other girls took care of the animals at the fair. We then spent a leisurely morning taking in the fair, visiting with people and enjoying ourselves. At 2 PM the goat show began and since Sam and I won't be superintending it next year, we began showing the new superintendents how things work.

The girls did very well with their animals as did all the other kids. We had the only Oberhasli's in the show and so walked away with lots of blue ribbons! It was a very relaxed show and a lot of fun for the kids. Christina was again our ribbon girl and she did an excellent job! Someday we'll convince her to join 4-H!

In the exhibit hall all the girls did very well! Hannah's zucchini bread, Rachel's lego creation, Samantha's pillow, Nathalie's snapshot, and Abby's papier mache submarine, all took first place ribbons! I did not enter anything this year due to lack of time and organization on my part. Next year I'll be sure to compete!

Saturday evening the kids settled in the barn for a riotous game of Apples to Apples while the adults took turns supervising the barn and visited. By 11 PM the fair was winding down for the evening and everyone headed off to bed.

Sunday morning we awoke to another beautiful day. After we completed our morning chores and ate our sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches we trekked down to the horse ring to watch Rachel and Hannah compete in the horse show. Rachel rode first and did very well in her lead line classes, coming in seventh and third. Hannah did an excellent job in her two classes as well, but her horse was nervous and did not really behave for her. While she didn't place, she gained a lot of experience and I was very proud of how she handled herself.

After the horse show, we went back to the goat barn to set up for the fitting competition. We had three teams of three kids and one team of four that were willing to compete. Each team was provided a goat, a bucket of water, a set of clippers, either baby wipes or a rag, a scrub brush, and a broom. They had thirty minutes to clip and clean their goat as well as they could. The teams were judged on how well they worked together, their ability to communicate with each other, how clean they kept their workspace, and lastly, how well fit their goat was after the half hour. We had fun watching them and I hope they had fun doing it!

Rachel, Samantha, and Hannah spent the afternoon working at the petting zoo and at 5PM we began to clean up our barn and move non-essential tack down to the trailers. Rachel and Samantha returned to the barn to help load animals while Hannah remained at the petting zoo. Sam and I devised a plan where he would take Nathalie, Samantha, and Rachel back home with himself and the animals, while Abby and I remained at the fair to finish breaking down the barn and pick up the exhibit hall entries.

After loading the car with our entries we managed to get within a few miles of home when I remembered Hannah! She was still at the fair! I drove home, Abby called the petting zoo and told them we were on our way back to get Hannah. Sam drove back to the fairgrounds while I got the younger kids showered and in bed. When Sam got to the fairgrounds, Hannah didn't even know we had left she was so busy helping at the petting zoo!

Finally by 9PM everyone was home, showered and in bed.
Next fair: Ledyard!