County Fair Excitement

I love the fair. County fair or state fair, it doesn't matter. My love for what some people would call mass chaos was passed down from previous generations in my family. I went to my first county fair at 1 week old and my first state fair was approximately 2 weeks later. People probably looked at my mom as if she was crazy! In our family that's not crazy, it was simply a way of life. You see, every generation of my family has at least 1 person showing an animal at the fair. My grandpa, my dad, all of my brothers, myself and my nephew for a period of time. For 30+ years there was always at least 1 Bullock showing at the fair. There has been a break of about 10 years now.

Well, that break is over! My son starts his 1st showing experience at the county fair this week. It's still unknown as to how this experience will go because as you can imagine, a 32 pound kid (why oh why is my child so small?) trying to lead a 90 lb lamb could end a multitude of ways. Some days go really well and others not so much.

My brothers enjoyed the showing process. Working them multiple times a day (while sleeping in the barn for early morning session) and traveling far and wide to get that coveted Grand Champion title. It was an unspoken rule that I would follow in their footsteps. A lot of years included tears and frustration because there were high expectations. While I never got involved to the point of traveling across the state/country for shows, my sheep showing journey ended with a lot of pride and joy at my accomplishments.

Lambs were never my 'passion'. It was horses. I was very lucky to get the opportunity for unlimited access to horses at a young age. The county and state fairs were a jumping off point for something larger. Eventually I started going to regional shows and capped off my showing career with a trip to the world show in Tulsa, OK on my 21st birthday. Actually, my passion for horses didn't stop there as I showed horses through a college club as well.

Every summer while growing up I returned back to the county fair. It was a time to spend 1 week with some of my closest friends. There was a core group of us that got along GREAT even though we were all competing against each other. We keep in touch to this day! It's funny because I recently ran into someone that knew all of us that showed horses together. He said to me 'You're one of those pretty girls that all ran around together!"

Being involved in 4-H and FFA at the county/state level gave me some of the best friendships I've ever had. I had friends that I went to school with as well but my 4-H friendships were on a whole other level. We weren't friends because we went to school together, we were friends because there was a common passion between all of us. All of our early morning, late nights, long days and even a 1.5 hr ride in the nose of a livestock trailer (why did our parents think this was an okay idea?) bonded us in a way no other experience could.

It is my hope that my children will have the same or even better experience in 4-H as I did. There might have been some disappointments at times but the time I spent doing something I loved with people I loved made it all worth it. This week is the start of that experience and I vow to help him make it as amazing as possible!