I’m giving you fair warning. 

It’s almost time, you know. All across the state, all across the country – fairgrounds everywhere are getting a final lick and polish. Animals are being groomed within an inch of their lives. Projects are being finished up and spiffed up. People are getting ready for the county fair.

Now if you’re one of those people, the ones who have already finished your fair entries and who have been planning it for months, you need no warning. You can just ignore the rest of this column and go straight to the market page. But, if you are like me and fair time sneaks up on you every single year, this is your final warning, get with it.

I know how it goes, every year as you are walking around looking at the exhibits, you think to yourself, “I could do that!” And, you promise yourself that next year you will actually plan ahead and enter something in the fair. But, then the fair is over and school starts and then it’s harvest time and then the holidays, and who thinks about fair over the holidays? But slowly it creeps up on you until – WHAM! It’s the end of July and you haven’t done a darn thing.

But, I want to tell you a secret. Some things don’t take a year of forethought and work. Well, grand champion things usually do, but you can whip up a respectable fair entry in a week or less. All you need is a good idea and a little time. 

If you’re a wood worker, get to hammering. If you’re a cook, get to cooking. If you’re a gardener, get out there and put a cage around that prize tomato or flower so the dogs don’t sit on it five minutes before you pick it.

This has been known to happen, although the culprit isn’t always the dog. Many fair entries have been ruined enroute to the fair by raccoons, cats or kids. And, sometimes, what you think is a failure, simply needs a different category. I, myself, won a blue ribbon one year with my “chokecherry syrup” entry, which was chokecherry jelly that didn’t jell. So, even if your entry isn’t your very best effort, enter it anyway. It might lead to a great story.

Then again, you might decide that you don’t want to go to all that work. You might decide that all you really want to do is walk around eating fair food and being impressed by other people’s creativity. That’s okay too. 

No matter if you are a participant or just a looker, support your local county fair. You’ll be glad you did.