Its Yolo County Fair time!

The second week in August brings the Yolo County Fair and I for one am looking forward to it. I don't often have the chance visit with some of my old friends and it seems as though the fair is the place to meet up and see how their kids have grown and what life has thrown their way. Having moved to the area just out of high school, I didn't know a soul when I walked through the fairgrounds in 1983. Never being one to shy away from meeting people, when the fair rolled around again the next year, I went with a few friends.

I am not sure what makes people outgoing or introverted, but if you put me in a room with 100 people, give me an hour and will have met two or three that I would feel comfortable playing 18 holes with the next day. I don't know if that is a good attribute or not, but that is how I am wired. I like people and I enjoy talking to them.

As my circle of friends grew in Woodland, it wasn't long until I could not walk through the fair without tripping over people I knew. I may have been tripping because I was the 'beer garden' but thats a different story. That was also before I was married and had children. As college students and young adults, it was easy to see the same people at the same events throughout the year. The County Fair, the Stoneyford rodeo, the Almond Blossom Festival and the 18 and over concerts held at the community center in Madison lovingly called "Oakie Stomps". The same group of twenty to thirty friends would be there and it was great time to be young and foolish. And boy were we ever foolish.

In 1994 we moved to Sacramento and lived there for 9 years. In that time I lost touch with many of my old friends as they settled down with families of their own, The Yolo County Fair was the only place I would have a chance to see them. It was a constant. Everyone comes to the fair.

When we moved back to Yolo County in 2003, Esparto to be exact, it was great to be home. While I went to high school in Redding Ca, after spending 10 years in Yolo County, I had come to know it as home.

The fair is the only free fair left in California, so it everyone comes. The FFA and 4H kids with their animals are always great to visit with. The rodeo is being replaced this year with a Bullriders only event and while I enjoy watching those guys getting their legs braided by the bulls, for me there is nothing as pretty as a great saddlebronc ride. They perfect timing and rhythm of the cowboy and the horse as they spur and kick their way across the arena is a thing of beauty, unless you get out of time and get thrown over the horses head. That is not so pretty, but it is entertaining to watch. No horses this year, just the 1,800 pound bovine gladiators against the 130 pound cowboys.

This year you may find me at two places at the fair, I will be stopping by the Bayside Woodland booth and the Yolo County Republican Party booth to hang out with friends. I don't like to mix my church and my politics but I can't seem to avoid it this year.

I hope to see you there.