Neshoba County Fair

We picked Chuck up from daycare when he woke up from his nap yesterday and headed to the Neshoba County Fair. I have been wanting to go for three years so this was the year! Our last chance! Really we just wanted to see what it was like and why it was covered in Southern Living a few years ago. All the pictures of the cute cabins is what got me there.

So on the fairgrounds there is a racetrack where a bunch of horse racing and harness racing takes place throughout the week. Then you have cattle and horse barns. You can watch them bathing the horses and getting them ready for the races. You can also watch the cattle shows. One day there are dairy cows, the next beef cows, etc. Now when I say barns I mean rinky dink stalls. And when I say giving them baths, I mean standing in the mud and squirting them off. Still Chuck loved seeing the animals.

There are also about 20 carnival rides and a ferris wheel and some food vendors. The rest of the fairgrounds is covered with small cabins. I would say no cabin is more than 15 feet wide. Some cabins go up three and four stories. To me it had the same feeling as Hot Springs ( the rustic feeling) but there is a racetrack instead of a lake. It also looks like someone threw up on Hot Springs with all the cabins and tents and chairs, etc. They do have entertainment every night and it is decent entertainment. They get some big bands. There is a "chair run" that happens after the last horse race. People race onto the track to put their chairs down as close as they can get to the stage. There is a lot of pushing, falling, and dirt.

So we got to the fair and strolled around through all the lanes and looked at the cabins. We also got to see a few horse races.

There is an exhibit hall ( an old run down barn) that shows the winners of the food competitions. I was quite baffled and had to take a pic. This is a picture of the veggies that won ribbons. I have never seen so many tomatoes, banana peppers, and cucumbers that look exactly the same yet some won first place and some won third. They were also displayed on fancy styrofoam plates.

Chuck did walk/run around some. When the races were over, we let him run out on the red dirt race track and play in the dirt ( and probably horse poo). He found the carousel and pressed his face against the fence and cried. We bought him a ticket and let daddy go with him. When they got on the carousel, Chuck would not ride any of the animals and cried the whole time. Guess we couldn't win either way.

I think Chuck's favorite part of the day was the lemonade. While we were in Mobile this past weekend, Chuck picked up Abby's juice box and started drinking it. Apparently, he has been ready to drink out of a straw and we didn't know it. So Dr. and I each got a lemonade at the fair and Chuck about threw a fit. Needless to say, Chuck won and got a lemonade and enjoyed it thoroughly.