The fair was great. Small, true, but lots of fun. :) We went through the quilt and other crafts exhibit hall (mostly all quilts), and the hay barn (did you know that they actually have Hay Judging??? I didn't.) It sure smelled good, though all the bales looked pretty much alike to me. I did manage to distinguish between grass hay and alfalfa though!
Oh, and ate disgustingly greasy fair food. Whee. One note though - if getting a corn dog at a fair, double check the place you're getting it from. I got one that was just nasty. I didn't even try to eat the whole thing; gave up and went to get an Indian Taco from another stand instead. And, wouldn't you know it, they were selling corndogs too, and ones that looked much much better. Ah well. I consoled myself with a funnel cake. Mmmm.
And then.....
drumroll
the pig wrestling!
They started with the kids' teams. Looked mostly like younger teenagers, though one team was probably four 10 yr olds. The pig was almost bigger than they were! I should back up a bit. It's a ring; maybe 15 feet in diameter, lined with heavy plastic and filled with clay-mud and water. Duane said it was probably bentonite. There's a barrel in the middle that you have to stick the pig into.
Ok. So, they auctioned the teams off first - the kids' teams went for anywhere between 50-100 dollars; the older people usually 100-200. A couple teams were up in the $400 range though, and one men's team was $500! That seems awfully high to me! I guess that is the prize money though. 15% goes to a scholarship, and then the first and second place teams split the rest 60/40. Then they let a pig into the ring, slathered mud on its back, and the fun started. It wasn't very fair, I didn't think - they put extra water in before the women's teams started, so it was much slippery. And I think they gave them bigger pigs!
But it was really funny, and the people trying to catch the pigs hammed it up. But amazingly enough - if they actually managed to catch the pig, it only took an average of 30 seconds to get it into the barrel. There was a firetruck standing by - I wondered if it was there to resuscitate any pigs who had heart attacks! But no, they were just loaning their hose to wash the contestants off. And believe me, they needed washing!
AND... I got 9000 steps out of the deal. :) I'm a whole day away from Independence now. At this rate, I'm going to starve in the mountains like the Donner party. ;)