4-H Fair parade

The 4-H Fair is a big deal in my county. Supposedly, it is the 2nd largest county fair in the US, behind only Los Angeles County. There are many children involved in 4-H and many local organizations who participate in the fair in some way, either by raising money in a food booth, or buying animals at the auctions at the end of the fair.

When I was out in Pennslyvania last weekend for a reunion (blog about that soon) I struck up a conversation with a guy wearing a Wakarusa, IN shirt. His daughter and son-in-law live in Wakarusa, and he was visiting a few weeks ago during the fair. He could not stop talking about how great it was. When it is something you have grown up with you kind of get used to it being the way it is.

Anyway, I don't actually have any pictures of the fair. I spent most of my time there working at the Crystal Valley Exchange Club taco booth, helping out my dad. It was fun but also very tiring.

One major part of the fair is the parade that is held on the first Sunday of fair time. Many, many people in the community come to watch the parade, and the kids are eager to collect candy. It's fun to drive to church that morning and see the many lawn chairs, blankets and canopies set up in anticipation of the parade, still many hours away. And as far as I know, no one steals the chairs, instead just finding another place to sit.

The parade starts out with a 5K run. Here are the leaders of the race running down Main Street.

Goshen High School cheerleaders carrying the parade banner.

Dr. S was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. He works at the Goshen Cancer Center and goes to Denise's church. He is also a super nice guy. Here he is in the orange shirt waving from the orange/yellow Hudson car borrowed for the occasion.

The most unique giveaway - english muffins, made by a bakery in Elkhart!