Nevada County Fair, 2004 Part 1 of 2

The 2004 Nevada County Fair lived up to its expectation as one of the best county fairs in the nation. The animals were beautiful, the rides colorful and exciting, and the crafts outstanding. Mary and I arrived at the fair at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning, the second to last day. I summarize in this and a succeeding page a small taste of what we saw and did, which in turn was an infinitesimal part of all there was to see and do.

The view down Gold Path in the picture below shows the perfect day (high 80s), an enthusiastic but not overwhelming crowd, and a hint of the rides and booths to meet a wide variety of ages and interests.

Booths and rides along Gold Path looking toward
Main Street Center in the background

Action on the Super Slide

The big ride at the fair -- what is it?

The Ferris Wheel, of course

The heart of the fair, as always, was the animals. We were greeted just past the Lot 4 ticket booth by two friendly alpaca and a lady explaining some of their characteristics and products (20 pounds of wool each year -- "That's a lot of sweaters.").
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A friendly Alpaca

Up the path from the alpaca were the pens for goats, sheep, chickens, cows, bulls, and so on. There were so many interesting animals it was difficult to pull ourselves away and move on to the huge variety of activities at the fair. From the animals' point of view the central theme was eating . . .
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Proof that goats don't read

Pig, dead asleep with his head in his feed bowl

Beautiful zebra in the petting zoo

The grand prize white bull and his runner-ups

Grand-prize-winning cow and her hungry calf

Beautiful horsewoman in the making