Small Town Girl

As most of you know, I grew up in a small town not far from here. This past week I spent a few days at the Morgan County Fair, the Biggest Little County Fair in Utah.

I went to the parade. (I left my blasted camera home. This is really upsetting because I seriously take my camera everywhere I go. I have a camera in my phone but in my mind, that doesn't really count as a camera.) Anyway, I realized half the town was in the parade and the other half was watching the parade. The owners of the few businesses in town, threw some crepe paper on their pickup truck or four wheeler and called it a float. They all handed out candy, popsicles, or toys. My kids loved the great variety of candy, noting the candy was not just taffy and tootsie rolls. I was sitting next to my brother, who still lives in town, lots of the people going by in the parade called out to him. Almost everybody knows almost everybody.

There were plenty of horses in the parade and yet, not a single pooper-scooper that this city girl has grown accustomed to. You see, back home, horse poop is nothing more than fertilizer. As I giggled at the parade, I noticed something......every single person, in the parade or in the crowd (if that's what you want to call it) was smilin'. Not just a little smile either. Everybody was happy! This was the biggest thing to happen all summer and we were all just a celebratin'.

Later, I took the kids to "kid day" at the fair. I enjoyed seeing a lot of friends I went to school with that I haven't seen in years. It's always great to see their families and how much they've grown.

My boys enjoyed winning African Dwarf Water Frogs.(Really? Do we need more animals around here?) I'm guessing we do because Esteban, Ethan, and AJ all threw a ball into a cup winning a frog each. Yeah!!

My nephew, Easton, was part of the Jr. Livestock Show.Yes, that is a leash on a cow. (Steer, is the proper terminology. I won't go into details about why he is not considered a bull.) Easton led his steer into the arena where the steer was judged and Easton was judged on his ability to control the steer and make it stand nice an' straight. I've never seen a livestock show, (I did watch a dog show once on TV.) and I found it fascinating and a bit smelly but, that's all part of the experience.

Vanessa had no worries paying $3 to ride one ride that lasted all of 1 minute...

....as long as she still had enough money to buy cotton candy bigger than her purty little head.

That was all before she discovered the fish pond. She was set for the rest of the afternoon. My niece, Holly, didn't give a hoot about money. She was all about the free "human car wash".It really was a fun day! It was great to be reminded of small town life. A man from town, driving to get more ice for his snow cone shack at the fair, was killed in a car accident. His baby was in critical condition. As the news of the accident spread, the love and support was overwhelming. People were lined up at his snow shack paying as much as $10 for a small snow cone to help the family raise money to pay their medical costs. Jars for donations were placed all over the fair. One jar alone had almost $500 in it. The family will not be alone as friends and neighbors pour in to help in anyway they can.

There are lots of little things in my small town that seem a bit backwards, there are even more things in my small town that seem just right. A neighbor helping a neighbor is never backwards an' back home, everybody is your neighbor.