Our local fair is the Dixie Classic Fair in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Although it originally started in 1882 as the Wheat Fair (not quite as snazzy a name), the Dixie Classic Fair has been operating from its current location since 1951. The Dixie Classic Fair is the second largest fair in North Carolina and one of the largest in North America. So, to say this fair is a tradition in our area MIGHT be the understatement of the century.
We took the boys this year to keep the tradition alive with them. Ryan and I certainly remember going to our own hometown fairs as children, and we want them to experience some of that too.
Here are a few of the things we enjoyed this year.
Rides
The rides were in full swing and the boys certainly enjoyed those:
Incidentally, this is the Tilt-A-Whirl. The Harris Sisters always called these "The Blue and White Things" growing up because our local fair's Tilt-A-Whirl was always blue and white. The boys call these the "Turtle Whirl" because we've gone to exactly one amusement park where these had turtle shells painted on them:
Note these are blue and white! :-)
Food
Most people can't go to the fair without talking about the food.
I usually can avoid talking about fair food because most of it is fried, and I'm such a killjoy because I don't enjoy fried food. BUT, there were a few highlights for us!
Personal friend and local celebrity, Susan Morris recommended the cheesecake on a stick. This was a big honking piece of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake hand dipped in chocolate. Best $5 you'll ever spend at a fair! Jaxon was evidently so excited about eating some that he was giving his best "pirate face" in this photo. :-)
In other news, apparently our pup, Smitty, has opened an apple stand at the fair! Such an industrious pup! Read all about Smitty and how he got his full name here.
Competitions
Every year, I am MOST interested in seeing "The Great Pumpkin" and the winners of this year's competition did not disappoint. Heck, even some of the losers were quite impressive. This year, the Agricultural Building was "guarded" by a tin man and his sweetie. (Guess they didn't want anyone trying to walk away with the winning 911 lb. pumpkin!)
Here's a photo of the pumpkin contenders and some of the winners.
The fair houses other buildings that display other competition entries in other categories. Here are some of those highlights.
The boys wanted to make sure I took a photo of this so that I could crochet one for them. Looks awfully complicated and yet it only took third place.
Night Before Christmas themed Halloween wreath:
This Halloween wreath took first place:
In the decorated foods category, this gingerbread "outhouse" was created by an 11-year-old. Here are photos of the front and back:
And this pigs in mud cake was also a junior entry:
This floral entry was by a professional florist, but I thought it was too cute not to include. First prize winner.
Animals
The boys also enjoyed the petting zoo and got to visit with several different types of animals while we were there.
And to end the day, we got to watch our first ever pig race. Jaxon (who loves pigs) was over the moon!
Successful day at the fair!
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