Fair day in Teeswater

It's a gloomy, warm day at the farmette. We put the pads from the deck away early this morning in anticipation of the rain. Which is welcome. Wish we could send some out west where the wildfires are still raging.

It's the beginning of the fall fair season in Ontario and we went to the Teeswater Agricultural Fair yesterday. It's only about 40 minutes from here, and while it's small, it is mighty.

Here's Rob being a cowboy with three hands. Ha. The curling rink doubles in summer as the fair office and kid's zone. They had tractors and animals, birds and educational displays like the one showing how chickens are raised. There was a table with colouring books and crayons and all manner of kid-friendly things. Which is why we liked it.

There were alpacas, and this wee cria caught my eye. So cute. He or she didn't stray far from mom's side, even though they were in pretty tight quarters.

Teeswater is in Bruce County - beef country - and you could tell by strolling through the fairgrounds. The place was teeming with cattle being primped and prepped for the show ring. Whole families were sitting around in lawn chairs chatting and visiting and waiting their turn to shine.

We stopped to watch the young folks show off the handling skills they'd honed over the year. Their cattle breeds ranged from Angus (black) and Charolais (white), and Herefords (reddish with a white face).

I've been to tons of fairs over my 63 years, but never have I seen riders compete in a cutting competition.

Teams of three people mounted on their horses had to get certain cows away from the herd and into a pen in the middle of the ring. Cows had different numbers prominently displayed, and the announcer would call out, say, seven. The team would go into action and quickest ones to get the three designated sevens in to the pens won. It was so cool.

We also visited the community centre, where the flowers, baked goodies and quilts were on display.

This quilt had the most intricate pattern sewn on top of the geometric shape of the piece. Very effective.

I'm always attracted by any bouquet that contains sunflowers. The 10-footers at the farmette are just about to bloom. I'll probably enter them in our own Durham fair on the Labour Day weekend.

All in all, it was a great day and I'm looking forward to visitng many more fairs in the fall. Until next week.

Gratuitous cat photo courtesy of Hobbes (l) and Wilma (r). She just adores him. He's okay with her if she doesn't get all up in his face. An odd couple, given they're both rescues, he's seven years older than her and she was a complete wild child as a kitten.