With the prospect of Irma coming into the mountains, my friend and I decided to hit the fair on opening day rather than wait until Monday as was our original plan. The forecast on Thursday night was for Irma to end up here with an 80% chance of rain all day increasing to 100% later in the day. Of course that changed over the weekend, but we didn’t know that then. So, after working the book sale for a couple of hours on Friday, I picked up my friend in Arden and we headed out to the fairgrounds. Traffic was incredible going north, as lots of Florida and South Carolina license plates were on the freeway. I made the mistake of trying to use the freeway to get from Upward Road south of town to the Fletcher exit, but quickly exited off at the next one to take the back roads I know trying to avoid the main traffic. But the main street through the towns, state road 25, was also very heavy going north. We made it by avoiding that road as well, taking a lesser traveled even more back road, LOL!! First thing I did was to get a corn dog, then we went to see all there was to see. I found three of my quilts entered into competition had won ribbons, and I was so thrilled!! One was the Be My Carolina Neighbor, but the picture didn’t come out. I’ll get another picture later next week. In the meantime here are the others. Scrap Dance Waltz, my original pattern, won a second place ribbon in pieced bed quilts. Get the pattern in my Etsy store, link on the sidebar.
Magnolia Attic Windows won a second place too. That pattern is free on the blog, a nice idea for using large scale prints.
We had some fun watching the pig races. They are designated with color ribbons around their necks, and have names that are fun take-offs of race car drivers. Loaded into the gates, the outer plywood is lifted and they are off to run around the short chute track.
Down and around the last turn…
first one to the end gets the cheese treats, everybody else gets kibble.
Then the show has races with goats.
And then the ducks race, so funny to watch.
Lastly, the little potbelly pigs raced. I like this picture and may enter it next year in the photo contest.
We looked around at the Davis center, and saw an acrobat show.
Then went to the livestock area to see the animals. These are just a couple of the pictures I took.
Out in the arena, we saw a neat horse riding show by the Freedom Riders, carrying flags of our country and our state, and all the military service flags along with a few others I didn’t recognize. The riders did some intricate moves around each other with the flags flying, quite the spectacle.
In the crafts competition, my Swing Bag won a first place! Find the pattern in my Etsy store.
The Patriotic version of Scrap Dance Tango won a second place in table toppers. Find the pattern in my Etsy store.
The first of two cooking competitions I have entered is coming up on Tuesday, so I’ll at the fair again. This will be my first time to compete in a cooking contest. I have at least two more ribbons to share for other entries, but the photos came out so bad that I have to go take more pictures. So, I’ll share those with you later in the week. The temperature turned markedly cooler here too, and I am really in the mood for autumn now!
Are you ready for fall?
Sharing
From My Carolina Home 
Congrats on all the great ribbons! Your Scrap Dance Waltz is especially stunning hanging there. I think the same people did the same pig races and funny names at our county fair!?!
Congrats on your ribbons. These are wonderful projects, and you should get a prize for all the hard work you’re doing bringing fun projects to your readers and for quilting so many QOV. My fav pix is the suckling pigs! This is nature at it’s finest! Loved the races. Feel like I have “been to the fair” without the corn dog……Isn’t fair food fun! Hubby & I went to a local community festival last month and I HAD to get funnel-cake. It must have weighed a pound, filled a plate and I had to share it all around with our friends as it was more than I could eat; but was wonderful!
Congratulations! Now I’m curious as to your cooking entries!
Congratulations Carole! I’ve been waiting for your post, I knew you would win a lot of ribbons. If you get a chance to go by the photography section, a young girl who took our 50th Anniversary pictures won third prize with one of our photos.
Congratulations Carole. And be safe….
OMgoodness…I cannot even imagine winning ONE ribbon at any fair…you must be thrilled!!! Congratulations….I’ll be eagerly anticipating hearing about the cooking.
Congrats! on your success at the fair. What fun!!
Congrats on your ribbons sounds like you had fun at the fair – I’m heading to Paducah for the fall show on Wednesday and Irma will finally be in that area then for rain all day when we are driving – thank goodness it will just be rain and not a hurricane – when we made reservations we had assumed it would be heading into the Carolina’s or someplace else – not Kentucky!
Congratulations on your ribbons!
Congratulations on the many ribbons for your lovely quilts, etc. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never been to a State Fair and my son lives in the town where it is held. I definitely am planning to attend it next year, never realized how much fun they are and getting a chance to see quilts. And not to mention food, I do love my funnel cakes.
Love that the swing bag won a blue ribbon!
Congrats on your ribbons!!! I haven’t been to a state fair in many years. Used to go every year when we lived in Springfield IL.
Congratulations on all the ribbons! Your quilts are so beautiful!
Congratulations on your many ribbons, so well deserved! Looking forward to the additional pictures featuring your ribbon wins. Can’t wait to see what happens with the cooking competition, crossing fingers for you. Stay safe and hope the storm is minimal in your area.
Congratulation on all your ribbons, looks like you had a fun day! Great pictures of the animal races. lol
Congratulations on your ribbons. Looks like such a fun fair. The racing ducks make me giggle.
Carole! Wowee – so many ribbons you won! That has to make you feel proud, and worth all the time you spent on the projects. Oh, the Scrap Dance Waltz quilt turned out beautifully, as did Magnolia Attic Window. I love the swing bag, too – it sure looked like a nice day to be at the fair. Ooh, a cooking contest – I cannot wait to hear about that. I’ve never entered anything for judging. Looking forward to your other ribbon-winning items. ~smile~ Roseanne
I got a good chuckle out the the racing ducks pic! What about entering the eating goats pic? Loved the simplicity of that one and the goats have such personality showing! Want to mention that one of our Guild members had a harvest colors version of Be My Neighbor at our Weds. Show & Tell time! I recognized it immediately! Fun to see the different color versions. I’ve never been much of a Fair goer – around here it is usually monsoon rains OR hot & muggy, OR a hot & dry dustbowl, complete with flies & stinky animals & food I’m not supposed to eat! That being said, yours sounds like great fun, so maybe we’ll venture to ours next year! Good to see all the pix!
Wonderful! Congratulations Carole! I can’t wait to hear about the cooking competition. Girl#2 entered the Cobbler throw down at our county fair as a 9th grader, and actually won the thing! It was quite the experience, they even made her the feature in the foods section on week, and everyone thought it quite punny since her school mascot was the Cobblers! Hope your experience is fun and rewarding!
Many congratulations on your ribbons! I am so happy for you. I love the pictures of the animal races. I have seen a pig race at a fair before, but the ducks I have not seen and that must be so amusing. Good luck with the cooking competition.
Wow! You are doing fantastic in the ribbon department! Congratulations!
Hope you win even more!!
Yay for all the ribbons! Know lots of hard work went into making your beautiful projects. I’m going to our State Fair this week with my mom-in-law. Love looking at all the talented artwork, photographs, quilts and other projects. And, of course, all the animals (though I always want to bring home one of those long eared bunnies whenever I see them!)
Yay, Carole! Congratulations on your winning entries! Once more, you’ve given us a whole lot of vicarious fun – who knew there were duck races? Not this city girl! And how do you get a duck to race, anyway…? Good luck with the cooking entries coming up!
Congratulations on your wins. Hope you are safe. Ive Been watching on Tv all the hurricanes and fires. Im safely in Queensland Australia. So far the fire season has Been quiet. And as yet too early for cyclones so i pray that you all are safe
I miss a good fair have not been to one since we retired and moved here.
Congrats on your many wins again this year. Yes I am ready for fall we have had perfect weather here for the most part but that will change come thursday hot 90s are returning-ugh
Congrats on your ribbons, well deserved! I love fall but I need/want more summer first!!
Great looking fair, congrats on your well deserved ribbons!
Yeah. Congratulations on all of the ribbons. I love the pig races at our fair too.
Congratulations on your ribbons – richly deserved. Good luck in the cooking competitions.
Congratulations on all your wins! Marvelous! I would like to have gone to the fair in good weather, but we were out of town.
Congratulations on your ribbons . Your pictures of the animal races made me smile. Love it, the winner gets the cheese😄. Fall fairs are so much fun. I haven’t been to one in years. Have a great day.
Congratulations on the well-deserved ribbons at the fair! 🙂
This was a fun post 🙂
Congratulations on your winnings! That pig picture is just too cute and the acrobat show looked like fun too! Thanks for linking up again to this month’s Take Me Away party! Have a great weekend!
Shelley