The Great Darke County Fair

It's mid-August so that means it is time for the Great Darke County Fair! We went on Sunday & Monday. Sunday, we spent the day with Shawn's family seeing what they wanted to and on Monday Shea and I went with my parents. Last year, we had just come back from Dale Hollow and we didn't know at the time but Shea had a middle ear infection. She hung in as long as she could but we had to come home and go to the doctor. Not this year! She's healthy and ready to jump. Jump? Yes, the fair was able to get the "bouncy thing", as we call it, to return this year. You are harnessed and then they put tension on the lines and you start jumping and go up in the air. Shea loves it! Sunday she was able to get three flips in and Monday she just wanted to jump. It really is fun to watch.

Shea is ready to jump!

A new attraction this year to the fair is Camel rides. Darke County is far from the desert but you guess it... Shea really wanted to try it! She was even going to do it by herself. Good thing, I wasn't getting on it. Maybe next year! She stood in line patiently only to find out that on this day they were not letting single riders go. We are not sure why. Daddy volunteered to go. He too enjoyed it. At least the guy walking the camel was nice enough to take the cigarette out of his mouth for the photo! Also, when I snapped this photo Shawn had just seen our friend, Eric, and they were chatting (see, I told you below, it's like a reunion each year). That's the reason for the look on his face

Shawn & Shea ride the camel

Another thing that we have to do each year is go through each barn. This is the dairy cow palace. Shea was totally flipped over this cow having a pink halter on. This particular cow was friendly and kept trying to lick Shea. Wonder what good fair stuff she had on her that the cow liked? I sat on a nice shady bench but they continued on to see the beef cows, dogs, rabbits, pigs, goats, sheep, ducks and even a glimpse at a cow show in progress. And yes, for those of you in Madison County each animal has it's own barn- no sharing! The horses are at the other end of the fair and Shea did see and ride on a few.

Stop licking me!

On Monday, there was a new arrival to the fair. Tigers!! Real live ones. We had to see this show. The gentleman was very informative. He was the 9th generation in his family to save and train tigers. They raise them and they do try to save ones from people who no longer can care for their exotic animal. He told a lot about why Tigers are endangered and then the fun began. Pictured is Conan and he was the "comic" of the group. There were five Tigers in all during the show. This one even kisses! Can you imagine??

Conan

We had a terrific time this year, although I'm still tired! Shea opted to not ride any rides this year, I'm not sure why. She did play a few games and won prizes. Oh, my Mom let her play the golf fish game. You know, throw the ping-pong ball and try to get it in a gold fish bowl. She bought 12 balls- I would have had a heart-attack if she would have won that many. Luckily, the first ball went in and we now are the proud parents of Goldie. I'll have to take a photo to share. Shea even got her pink rocks for her habitat! Happy fair going!