If you watched "Oh Brother Where Art Thou," more than likely, you were able to see the annual county fair. Remember when the little girls who climbed on the stage and sang, "In the highways and the hedges. In the highways and the hedges. In the highways and the hedges, I'll be somewhere listening for the Lord. I'll be somewhere listening, I,ll be somewhere listening, I'll be somewhere listening for the Lord ..." This is the Cleveland County Fair which is held every September at the Norman, Oklahoma Fair Ground. They had a talent contest for kids who are 5 years to 8 years. Iris really wanted to get up and sing. Believe me, Iris would have done better than all the other contenders, because she can sing the melody of a song and never be flat or sharp. Unfortunately, even the girl who was the announcer sang a song during which, she was flat more than she was on key. They had an antique tractor show. I think this is a Alis Chamler. All of these tractors were older than 1950. By that, I mean they were built BEFORE 1950. This is a Case Tractor. They were big time popular in their day. As you can see, some of them are restored and some of them aren't. Those that aren't are still being used on the farm,

A Cec should remember this one. This is a restored Ford, the same kind of tractor that our grandpa had, so you can imagine the age. In fact, I will not even guess the age, and have you ask Bro., what date this was made on. Grandpa's tractor is now in Missouri. Our Uncle Ralph had it, and so they bought it and moved it to Missouri. It is my guess that they have no idea that their tractor is an antique. They use it to "Hedge Hog" their lawn.

This is a cool little tractor. I'd like to have a tractor like this one. Maybe I can find one. Notice it is not restored. Restored means that you take it all apart, clean it up. Put original parts on it, and do a great paint job, like it would have been painted when it was new. Oh! I get it. You would like to see a small restored tractor. Let me see if I can show you one. Remember, these are over 40 years old.

Okay, check this one out. Can you believe the size of it? Those tractors which are restored, are not "in-use" by the farms.
These tractors are cleaned up, rebuilt and are used at various county fairs around the state.

We have 77 counties in Oklahoma, and it's possible that these tractor owners could be paid to bring their old tractors for the people to look at .

Often, these antiques will be judged and will win a BLUE RIBBON, a la, Charlotte's Web. Yep, ... Charlotte's Web is actually a story about a county fair. Is that cool or what?

Notice, it says Lexington FFA and 4H. I expect you to ask A Cec about that and what they mean. We were all raised as 4H'ers because we lived in a small town where agriculture was the form of living by most of the non-American Indians that attended the school.

I even tried to work on a farm, but my allergies took me out, big time. After a week, I had 104 temp and bloody noses.

Big Bro, Ray, worked on the farm, every summer. Now days, they have huge tractors that are air conditioned. But after any summer, Ray would have a big time "Farmers tan."
These cows, that Iris stands by, could be milk cows. I'd say, "NOT!" Milk cows are usually black and white.

These cows belong to a student who would raise them and then enter them in the county fair. If they won, they could then go to State Fair on the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma. The cows would be brought into the middle of the ring, where we will see the dog, in a minute, and they would be judged.

Pigs would be raised for the same reason. Thus, "Charlotte's Web." Let me see if I took some pictures of some pigs. These are pigs. Sorry, I don't know my pigs, but I
do know they are black. There were pigs with babies, as well. These pigs were not in the petting animal area. Iris couldn't wait to go to the petting farm.

When we got to the petting farm, Iris petted the big animals. They also had a guy who had horse you could ride on. They just went around in circles. Iris already had ridden those kind of horses and she didn't want to ride them.





I wanted to take Sassie, but was vetoed. Low and behold, they had a dog contest. All these kids had their dogs out in the arena.

A guy was asking all the kids what their dog's name was. Then he would ask if their dog did anything. If we had had, Sassie there, she would have won the most talented dog, hands and feet down. There were no poodles there.

Iris and I told Marcella about the dogs and reminded her that we didn't bring Sassie because of her. Well, we will go to Denton, Texas next year, come high water or low water.


This is Iris in the petting farm. It is a small, black chick. We just had to take that picture, for sure.


Baby ducks are so cute, and luckily, Iris got to hold one of them. Is that luck or what? The duck who is this baby's mother will might get a Blue Ribbon, if she is lucky.


This is the group who watched the talent show. After this, Ty England, a Country Musician, who once was in Garth's Brooks' band. Sadly, England hasn't made it as Country Musician, except to get a few venues at local county fairs, like this one. We did not stay to watch him.



Of course, a county fair is a great place to talk to the kids about safety. Here is Iris in a Norman fire truck. And, ... this concludes a tour of the fair. They also had a "fairway," where the kids can ride the rides and eat funnel cakes. Also, I have a pre-1950 Briggs and Stratton Lawnmower, which I have restored, which would be fun to put in the fair. Also, Marcella has a cool riding lawnmower which would look great in a parade.

1816 -- The first farm fair in the U.S. is sponsored by an agricultural society in Massachusetts.

1840s -- European settlers start arriving via the Oregon Trail.

1854 -- Wasco County, named after a Chinook tribe living near The Dalles, is created. At 130,000 square miles, it stretches into parts of what is now Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

1854 -- Yamhill County hosts the first county fair in what will become Oregon.

1855 -- Warm Springs and Wasco tribes relinquish 10 million acres of land and the Warm Springs Reservation is created. Native Americans remain to this day an active part of the Wasco County Fair.

1858 -- A group of farmers called the Oregon Fruitgrowers Association unite to start the process of developing a state fair. Their gathering in 1858 is considered the first, unofficial Oregon State Fair.

1859 -- Congress reduces Wasco County's size by one-third.

1869 -- The Dalles Agricultural Fair, considered the first fair in Wasco County, awards prizes for the top colt, sheep, potato, apple, embroidery work and preserves, among other categories.

1913-21 -- Wasco county has two distinct fairs: Southern Wasco County Fair at Tygh Valley and the Second District Fair at The Dalles.

1916 -- Wasco County is reduced to its current size.

1921 -- Voters defeat a ballot measure allowing use of land at the County Poor House in The Dalles for the county fair. More than 12,000 attend the last fair held in The Dalles.

1937 -- Local fair advocate W.E. Hunter promises to donate land for the county to use as its permanent fairgrounds, the site of today's Wasco County Fair in Tygh Valley.

Sources: "History of a County Fair" by E.M. Nelson, and The Oregon State Fair and Expo Center at www.oregonstatefair.org.

(C) Dale Hill 9/10/2006