Tuesday was a slower paced day - nice and relaxing. We all took the opportunity to walk around the fairgrounds and see the shows that we had missed up to that point. Jim and Jackson caught the hypnotist again as well as a few others, Jonathan got picked to help Professor Farquar with a magic trick, and I got a kick out of watching all the fellas checking out the four wheelers and lawn tractors in the machinery area. Are they cute or what??
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| Jonathan with Professor Farquar |
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| Jonathan, Professor Farquar, Jackson |
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| Jackson, Jim and Jonathan |
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| I love this photo - take a look at every single fella checking out equipment. Too cute. |
Tuesday lunch we all met Mama and Daddy at Perkins and Tuesday evening we went to Ryan's - followed by coffee and pie under the awning at the camper. Just about perfect, wouldn't you say?
Wednesday was a super busy day on the fairgrounds. Team penning, Bluegrass day, Missouri Seniors dance contest, plus all the regular attractions. We hit the ground running (although going in different directions!). Marvin and the boys went to Team penning in the Coliseum (just about my favorite building on the fairgrounds) while I went to the new Show Me Tent for non-stop bluegrass. (what a great addition to the fair, by the way!). I particularly got a kick out of a homeschooled sibling bluegrass group called the River Berry Players which consisted of a 17 yo sister, a 14 yo brother, and an 11 yo sister. They were all wonderful but that little girl was a real pistol. Fun to watch.
I then made my way to the Mathewson Center for the Senior Missouri Waltz contest. They do much, much more than waltz, but that is what it is called. This is always a highlight for me. I truly enjoy watching these wonderful folks year after year and have favorite couples that I look for each time. I wasn't disappointed this year - my favorites were all there and competing. I seem to be the only one who is interested in this event, however, at one time I did have Marvin, the boys and Jim sitting with me.... but that didn't last too long and eventually I was left by myself again to enjoy it all. :D (you can see some of these seniors in action in a video clip linked here.)
All my fellas came back to me, though, for the Draft Horse Pull in the Mathewson Center. :) It was nice to hear Uncle Harold mentioned by the announcer... he was responsible for bringing horse pulling to the Missouri State Fair and I certainly remember many times as a child attending those pulls and cheering him on.
Wednesday evening we all attended the concert at the grandstand featuring the incomparable Rhonda Vincent and various members of her family, including her daughters in The Next Best Thing and her brother in Dailey and Vincent. Can I just say, WOW!! What an incredible night of bluegrass music! Every single person on that stage was an accomplished musician. The vocals were so tight, the instrumentation was incredible. What a great night of music and joy.
Thursday morning was a little sad as we said goodbye to Jim, who had to get back home. We so enjoyed our time with him and were thankful he could join us. We surely missed dear Linda and thought of her so often in that place where we had shared many good times together.
The rest of Thursday was a lighter day for me, but the fellas spent most of their time again watching Team Penning. That is one of Marvin and Jackson's all time favorite horsing events. A team of three riders works together to cut out three calves (all marked with the same number) from the herd, then must take them to the other end of the arena and put them in a pen without the rest of the cows following them. They have 60 seconds to complete this task. The horse has to be fast and controllable in order to cut the cow out and run it to the other end of the arena. A good cutting horse is a beautiful thing to watch. Often the rider just lets the horse do the work. Pretty amazing.
Just for fun, here is a very short (5 seconds) video clip from several years ago that shows Jackson and Jim playing the part of the announcer at Team Penning (if the cowboys goof and allow the wrong cow across the line toward the pen!) Sweet memory.
Trash across no time from Laura M. on Vimeo.
Thursday evening we relaxed around the camper and I spent my time out under the stars (and the awning!) enjoying the sights and sounds of the fair. I did notice that the midway closed down earlier than I expected but I assumed that they didn't have much business, as the fair hadn't been crowded that day. Finally, I went inside to get ready for bed. Shortly after, Jackson hollered at me that he was seeing flashing lights in the campground and thought something must be up. We stepped outside and, sure enough, there were a number of emergency vehicles going through the campground. We then heard the loudspeaker from the Swine Barn warning of an approaching storm with 70+ mph winds and telling us to evacuate the campground. Whoops! We quickly woke up Mama and Daddy and then got ourselves dressed and out the door. Marvin and Jackson tried to shore up our outside/patio stuff as best they could and we headed for the Assembly Hall.
Pretty soon the entire hall was packed full of sleepy campers and the storm began to blow in. I have to say it was a bit unnerving to hear things literally crashing into the sides of the building. We found out later it was probably golf carts being tossed against the large garage type doors of the Assembly Hall. Everyone was very calm and orderly and the people in charge did an amazing job of keeping us all informed and safe. The power did go out and we ended up having to stay at the Assembly Hall for several hours because so many power lines had gone down - it would have been dangerous to return to the campground too early. Eventually, they let us all go and we made it back 'home' safely. It wasn't until the next morning that we truly found out the extent of the damage across all of Sedalia.
About 10,000 customers (including the entire fair) were out of power due to downed power lines and wind damage. Daddy came back from his morning meeting reporting that there were several tents and vendor booths that were destroyed on the fairgrounds, including the Touchstone Energy Stage, the Show Me Tent and the tented horse barn. The Petting Zoo completely collapsed, but not a single animal (anywhere on the fair) was hurt. There were a few campers (mostly pop-ups, I think) that were flipped but again, not a single person was injured. Amazing. I cannot state enough how impressed I was/am by the state fair folks (particularly state fair director, Mark Wolfe) and their speedy response to the whole situation. Incredibly, just 12 hours after the storm blew through, the fair reopened to the public. Pretty doggone impressive!
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| The River Berry Players on stage at the Show Me Tent - you can hear them in a video clip by clicking here. |
I then made my way to the Mathewson Center for the Senior Missouri Waltz contest. They do much, much more than waltz, but that is what it is called. This is always a highlight for me. I truly enjoy watching these wonderful folks year after year and have favorite couples that I look for each time. I wasn't disappointed this year - my favorites were all there and competing. I seem to be the only one who is interested in this event, however, at one time I did have Marvin, the boys and Jim sitting with me.... but that didn't last too long and eventually I was left by myself again to enjoy it all. :D (you can see some of these seniors in action in a video clip linked here.)
All my fellas came back to me, though, for the Draft Horse Pull in the Mathewson Center. :) It was nice to hear Uncle Harold mentioned by the announcer... he was responsible for bringing horse pulling to the Missouri State Fair and I certainly remember many times as a child attending those pulls and cheering him on.
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| Draft Horse Pull |
Wednesday evening we all attended the concert at the grandstand featuring the incomparable Rhonda Vincent and various members of her family, including her daughters in The Next Best Thing and her brother in Dailey and Vincent. Can I just say, WOW!! What an incredible night of bluegrass music! Every single person on that stage was an accomplished musician. The vocals were so tight, the instrumentation was incredible. What a great night of music and joy.
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| We were so happy to get to see Craig and Mary at the concert! |
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| Marvin and Jonathan |
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| Jim and Jackson |
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| Jonathan, Laura and Jim |
Thursday morning was a little sad as we said goodbye to Jim, who had to get back home. We so enjoyed our time with him and were thankful he could join us. We surely missed dear Linda and thought of her so often in that place where we had shared many good times together.
The rest of Thursday was a lighter day for me, but the fellas spent most of their time again watching Team Penning. That is one of Marvin and Jackson's all time favorite horsing events. A team of three riders works together to cut out three calves (all marked with the same number) from the herd, then must take them to the other end of the arena and put them in a pen without the rest of the cows following them. They have 60 seconds to complete this task. The horse has to be fast and controllable in order to cut the cow out and run it to the other end of the arena. A good cutting horse is a beautiful thing to watch. Often the rider just lets the horse do the work. Pretty amazing.
Just for fun, here is a very short (5 seconds) video clip from several years ago that shows Jackson and Jim playing the part of the announcer at Team Penning (if the cowboys goof and allow the wrong cow across the line toward the pen!) Sweet memory.
Trash across no time from Laura M. on Vimeo.
Thursday evening we relaxed around the camper and I spent my time out under the stars (and the awning!) enjoying the sights and sounds of the fair. I did notice that the midway closed down earlier than I expected but I assumed that they didn't have much business, as the fair hadn't been crowded that day. Finally, I went inside to get ready for bed. Shortly after, Jackson hollered at me that he was seeing flashing lights in the campground and thought something must be up. We stepped outside and, sure enough, there were a number of emergency vehicles going through the campground. We then heard the loudspeaker from the Swine Barn warning of an approaching storm with 70+ mph winds and telling us to evacuate the campground. Whoops! We quickly woke up Mama and Daddy and then got ourselves dressed and out the door. Marvin and Jackson tried to shore up our outside/patio stuff as best they could and we headed for the Assembly Hall.
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| Evacuated campers in the Assembly Hall - Thursday night (Friday morning) |
Pretty soon the entire hall was packed full of sleepy campers and the storm began to blow in. I have to say it was a bit unnerving to hear things literally crashing into the sides of the building. We found out later it was probably golf carts being tossed against the large garage type doors of the Assembly Hall. Everyone was very calm and orderly and the people in charge did an amazing job of keeping us all informed and safe. The power did go out and we ended up having to stay at the Assembly Hall for several hours because so many power lines had gone down - it would have been dangerous to return to the campground too early. Eventually, they let us all go and we made it back 'home' safely. It wasn't until the next morning that we truly found out the extent of the damage across all of Sedalia.
About 10,000 customers (including the entire fair) were out of power due to downed power lines and wind damage. Daddy came back from his morning meeting reporting that there were several tents and vendor booths that were destroyed on the fairgrounds, including the Touchstone Energy Stage, the Show Me Tent and the tented horse barn. The Petting Zoo completely collapsed, but not a single animal (anywhere on the fair) was hurt. There were a few campers (mostly pop-ups, I think) that were flipped but again, not a single person was injured. Amazing. I cannot state enough how impressed I was/am by the state fair folks (particularly state fair director, Mark Wolfe) and their speedy response to the whole situation. Incredibly, just 12 hours after the storm blew through, the fair reopened to the public. Pretty doggone impressive!
Here are some links to news articles about the storm and the damage.
Missouri State Fairgrounds damaged by storms
Severe storm cuts power, temporarily closes fairgrounds
Just like that, fair is back on track
You can see all the photos from our fair time by clicking here.
Missouri State Fairgrounds damaged by storms
Severe storm cuts power, temporarily closes fairgrounds
Just like that, fair is back on track
You can see all the photos from our fair time by clicking here.
What great stories; thank you for sharing them, along with the photos. But the storm sounds AWFUL.
ReplyDeletePEACE, Kerry
Golf carts hitting the building! That would be quite a sound. Glad you all were safe...
ReplyDelete