The East Texas State Fair

Not to be confused with THE State Fair of Texas, the East Texas State Fair is regional.  It's more for "home folk."  Students in the FFA (Future Farmers of America) bring their animals for judging, women bring their pies and canning creations, arts and crafts for judging, kids get to ride the rides and dads get to be suckered in by the carnies to play a game of chance.  This is good stuff!

The first East Texas State Fair was held in 1915.  That means this is it's 97th year!  There are certainly plenty of people to entertain.  The city of Tyler had a population of 96,900 according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010.  Their Tyler Metropolitan Statistical Area shows a population of 209,714 in that same year.

With those kinds of numbers any entertainment venue is bound to be a financial win for businesses.
The estimated spending in local businesses by area and out‐of‐town visitors to the fair for last year was in excess of $4 million dollars.  No wonder the city embraces it!!

One of John's favorite things to do is volunteer to help out at one of the booths.  With the medical traveling it's been awhile since we could join in the festivities.  This is an extra special treat because of that.

One of my favorites has always been the animals: Angus, Brahman, Hereford, Limousin, Santa Gertrudis, Simmental, Texas Longhorns, Beef Heifers, Dairy Cows, Steers, also, Lamb, Meat Goats, Rabbit and Swine.

Seems this Texas Longhorn brought her own kid to the Fair!

Miniature Cow

John has a growing interest in miniature cattle.  With just the two of us we could manage a gallon of milk a day instead of seven and a few pounds of beef come butchering time instead of a few hundred.  They eat less feed, can use smaller pastures, and produce less poop.  There's also less chance of an old man or woman getting accidentally crushed by a miniature cow! 

I'm inclined toward a miniature Hereford.
 
Our daughter-in-law loves goats.  She has nine dwarf goats here on our land.  They sure are hard-headed critters!  Tis a good thing we have an Australian Shepherd dog, Junior... except that he's afraid of the goats...

And there are sand sculptures...

The really neat thing is that it's FREE if you go before 1:00 in the afternoon.  Getting into the State fair isn't free or cheap - but it is enormous, and it could take three days to see everything.  There are, however, a LOT of free things to do once you get in the gate.

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