2001 Nevada County Fair
(Posted August 12, 2001 © Herbert E. Lindberg)

 

Mary and I went to the Nevada County Fair yesterday. Since we've gone so many times now, we gravitated toward anything that was new this year. This started with a handsome Alpaca:

Alpaca with shy master


As with many of the animals, it was very difficult to take a picture through the fence, but you can see this is a handsome animal and very friendly with his "master." The sign in his pen told a bit about Alpacas:

Sign in the Alpaca pen

We arrived at the tail end of the goat judging (no pun intended), just in time to see a pretty girl display her winning goat. The boy's goat was runner-up.

Winning Goats


As usual, there were extensive arts and crafts displays. New this year was a large group of volunteers demonstrating weaving, starting from raw wool. There were about a dozen people spinning yarn with almost as many different kinds of spinning wheels. Here's one type:

One of many spinning wheels being demonstrated


The wheel is spinning but the camera stopped the motion. Note the bare feet. Most of the spinners said they had better control that way. Below is another wheel, and a loom in action:

Spinning and Weaving


Here's another loom, and a surprised operator when she looked up to see my camera over my head looking down at her:

Surprised weaver


Since in previous years I hadn't taken pictures of the quilts, I snapped a few this year. I include two here. The first I thought would appeal to Jodie and other cat lovers:

The Cat Quilt


The second is chickens. I should probably include a full-size detail because I was impressed with the workmanship, but then most of you aren't chicken fans!

The Chicken Quilt


There was another quilt that was best of show that I also photographed, but you have to view the full-size picture (roughly 28 inches wide on your screen, viewed by scrolling) to appreciate it.

There were several new rides this year, too. The scariest (to me) was an advanced version of "The Hammer." It's called "Spin Out" and, like The Hammer, it flips everyone around and upside down but with a new twist, literally. As it whirls around in a vertical plane, the seats are in a merry-go-round that spins at the same time. Here's what it looks like half way to the top of the hammer swing. Next year: it swings all the way around like The Hammer?

Spin Out, the best new ride this year


All in all it was a great fair. The kids would have had a ball, especially those old enough for the new rides but not so old that they're sensible enough to stay off them!

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