Rodeos, clown shows, carnival rides, music, car crunching, and fried food.....all contributions to the creation of the Daniels County Fair. Although it is slightly smaller than when I was a child, the ambiance, the smell, and the country feel still give me that exciting small town feeling. It used to be excitement about all the rides I was going to go on and all the fair food I was gonna get to eat once a year. Some days, friends and I would go on the carnival rides until we almost puked. Today, I almost puke just thinking about going on them. This time the excitement of attending the fair stems from the comfort of being home, seeing friends and family, and flashing back to all the fair memories of years long ago.
If you haven’t been to a small town county fair in Montana, you’re in for a treat. The fairgrounds fill up with carnival rides, booths, fair exhibits, a petting zoo, 4H animals, horse trailers and RVs. During the day, there is anything from rodeoing, to pickup truck mud bogging and a parade down Main Street. In the evenings, the grandstands are piled with people ready to take in three nights of action in the arena. They are entertained with the rodeo, a staged entertainment act either music, hypnotist, or magician show, and the oh-so-popular demolition derby. It’s not too often you get to see cars purposefully crashing into each other hoping to the be the last one still moving and running.
*** Demolition Derby Time
The rodeo is filled with steer wrestling, roping, and barrel racing, both adults and juniors. Even the little ones get there shot at riding a sheep around the arena for as long as they can hang on to those speedy creatures. It’s pretty cute to see them all geared up to ride, in anything from shorts, a t-shirt, and a bike helmet to full rodeo garb complete with chaps, vest, hat and gloves.
*** Little Mini Cowboys taking-in the rodeo action
Now the food....
Well, there isn’t the most nutritious of options but when has ANY fair offered anything but fried foods and special treats. I walked around to see the never-ending line at the hamburger stand where they make the best fried burger with fried onions in town. You can ONLY get them at a local baseball game or at the fair. (I do remember them being pretty darn good.) The local community clubs and organizations set up booths and sell slices of homemade pie, beverages, popcorn, nachos and the infamous fried bread. You can have a fried piece of dough with a little butter, cinnamon and sugar or piled with taco fixings to make it an “Indian Taco.” Another booth had fresh homemade batter ready to dip and fry plain hotdogs, cheddar hotdogs, jalepeno hotdogs or even snickers or twinkies. I never had the pleasure of tasting them but I hear the snickers is like a warm cookie. Twinkies? I don’t even like a twinkie when it’s not fried. (Side Note: Did you know that there are 39 ingredients in a Twinkie and only 4 or 5 of them are anything that resemble actual food? Check out the book “Twinkie, Deconstructed” by Steve Ettlinger. It’s pretty facinating. I just found out the factory is in Chicago....hmmmmmm, field trip?) And of course, the fair wouldn’t be complete with out the fried mini donuts, cotton candy and carmel apples. It could easily turn into a three day food binge of greasiness and sugar. Thank goodness, I decided that I don’t have to try it all in order to write about it. I don’t know that I would make it out of the coma I’d be in.
It’s entertainment and social networking. It’s THE Fair, it’s a part of the community, and it’s a family occasion that only happens once a year.
If you are ever in Eastern Montana the first week of August be sure to take part in this small town tradition.
Enjoy it!
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