It's Fair Time in the Ozarks!!

It's almost time for the annual Ozark Empire Fair. For those who are reading this who don't live here, it's one of the largest county fairs in Missouri. Billy & I actually had one of our first dates at the fair. A few years ago one of Billy's sisters convinced me to enter exhibits in the fair. She is a GREAT cook, and had been entering breads, cakes, cookies for a while. A few years ago I made up my own peanut butter fudge modifying a recipe found on a marshmellow creme jar. Everybody raved about it, so my sister-in-law suggested I enter my fudge into the fair. Make fudge in the SUMMER?? I only made it at Christmas!

So I thought...okay...I'll go for it. The first year I tried was in 2000; I got 3rd place!! I was hooked!

I missed 2001, but entered in 2002, 2003, and 2005. The last 3 times I actually placed 1st in that particular fudge category, and got Champion in the Candy category all 3 times as well! I missed entering last year, so I let someone else win. =)

This year me and that same sister-in-law will be competing against each other in the Candy category; which wasn't planned, but it'll be fun!! We both have 3 chances to win, so who knows!! And I entered a new category for me this year; Grandparents Cookie Contest. Sydney is old enough to eat my cookies, so I thought why not?? The judges are kids, so we'll see. They judge those during the fair, which means you get to enter and get judged the same day.

Billy also entered photos this year in the Photography category; they are below. It's a little bit more expensive to enter photos because you have to have them printed to 8X10 size, and matted. He entered 9 photos this year in various categories. The photo category is very popular, with over 2,000 photos entered! I wouldn't want to be a Judge for that!! Billy has entered and placed in the past, but hasn't been able to enter for the last few years. So we'll see how it goes this year! Our daughter entered some photos as well.

This is just a little bit of 'fun' we get to have before school starts again and things get really crazy. It's also a great opportunity to take some of the International Students to see something they wouldn't normally see in their own countries. Good Ole' County Fairs!!! Corn Dogs, root beer, cotton candy and wild carnival rides!!