Monday, 22 July 2013

July 16, Washington county fair and rodeo

Between the Lines updates (international writing program)

County fairs are very typical of small-town America, so we were taken to see one. The entrance ticket cost 10$ for the pleasure of seeing the pavilions of rabbits, chickens, swine, sleeping horses and little ponies, goats  and cows with cut horns. Rodeo started with competitions of kids riding sheep and swine. They were wearing helmets and some stuck to the animals  really well, but still most flew on the ground within 10 seconds. Then cowgirls competitions proceeded. Speed, breed, straw hats bumping on their heads covering fly-away hair and cowboy boots. Each rider had to overcome three barrels without dropping them. For every dropped barrel 5 seconds were added. Thirteen zero and eighty five. Twelve oh five. The favorite of the crowd were citizens of the Washington County in spite of having eighteen-thirty-five results and dropped barrel.

The fair is one of the rare occasions for local farmers to get out and show what they do. We came across a very talkative one who introduced to us the intricacies of rabbit judging making puffy creatures stand on two paws or curl up into a ball. The rabbits were of all sizes. Brown Australian giants, tiny New Zealand greys, red-eyed victims of medicine and Alice-in-Wonderland heroes with gaunt muzzles and canny look.




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