Our State Fair is a Great State Fair…

With a nod to Rodgers and Hammerstein for today's blog title, Phillip and I made our annual trek to the Indiana State Fair yesterday evening. The weather was perfect and it was a great night to eat ourselves silly and visit the livestock barns to see my favorite of all of the animals on display, the miniature donkeys!

The Indiana State Fairgrounds is in an odd location by most estimates, smack in the middle of a fairly rough urban neighborhood that, at one time, must have been the edge of the city. It’s a beautiful facility that’s been thoughtfully maintained and upgraded, especially in the past fifteen years or so. It houses innumerable events throughout the year – home and garden shows, car shows, flea markets, gun and knife shows, etc. – but by far its claim to fame is the weeks in August when it is home to the Indiana State Fair.

We knew the fair would be crowded on this particular evening because, following a record string of 23 90+ degree days, the weather had broken. Low humidity and temperatures that barely topped 80 would mean a beautiful, breezy, fall-like evening. Little did we realize that the night’s concert was some pre-teen boy band sensation from Nickelodeon that we’d, of course, never heard of (clueless): Big Time Rush. This meant that the fairground was full of moms corralling gaggles of excruciatingly excited 8 to 10 year old girls carrying posters and signs. Luckily, these girls weren’t interested in the same things we were (miniature donkeys) and they opened the grandstands a little early since the concert was sold out.

Any trip to the State Fair has to be at least partially about the food and our annual ventures are no different. However, we’ve never been a big fan of the crazy gimmick food that they come up with every year (this year’s was deep fried Kool-Aid – huh?). Phillip always says that they take something wonderful (Snickers, Oreos, Brownies, Twinkies) and ruin it by battering it and deep frying it. I wholeheartedly agree. Another big one this year was the specialty burger stand that was selling heart attacks, I mean, “donut burgers” (a bacon cheeseburger on two Krispy Kreme donuts instead of a bun), “Eggo burgers” (waffles as the bun), and “French toast burgers” (you get the idea – gross). Instead, we settled on our usual - a tasty Hoosier ribeye sandwich from the Indiana Cattlemen’s Association tent with no sides to take up precious snacking room for later.

Dinner obtained, it was now time to visit the horse barn to see the miniature donkeys! Why miniature donkeys, you ask? Have you ever SEEN them? Oh my goodness! They are adorable. About the same height as a large German Shepherd and weighing about 200 pounds, one or two of them can pull a cart and eight of them can pull a large wagon.

To make it even worse (or better – depending on your perspective) this year there must have been a specific class for mothers with babies because there were several tiny, fuzzy youngsters in stalls with their mamas.

It’s a really, really good thing we live in a downtown area in the heart of the city. If we lived in the country, we would have a menagerie and it wouldn’t all be my fault. Animal lover Phillip would be just as guilty. However, the miniature donkeys would be ALL MINE. I’d have to have at least a pair with a fancy harness and cute little cart. I can just picture them taking our German Shepherds on rides in the cart. I am obsessed with this idea and seeing them in person every year at the State Fair only serves to rekindle my minifarm longings.

Look at that FACE!

Primary objective accomplished, we spent the rest of the beautiful evening wandering around the fair, checking out the other animals, particularly the newborn piglets and hours-old dairy calves in the special nursery area. We also focused on snacking. We split an elephant ear (yummy!), Phillip bought some cotton candy (yuck!), and we bought a pound of taffy for the road.

Then we left the fairgrounds with everybody else (including the car loads of still-screaming tween girls) in a massive traffic jam that got us home way past our regular bedtime. But that was fine. Riding home with the windows down and the sunroof open, enjoying the comfortable breeze and nearly full moon, gave me plenty of time to dream about my future minifarm and miniature donkey team.