West Alexander Fair

Every Labor Day the little town of West Alexander (1 mile from the West Virginia border on Route 70) holds its community fair.  I’ve been going to the fair with Kelly, Matt and the boys for a number of years, and it’s always fun and never the same experience twice!  This year turned out to be no exception.

Despite the dark clouds and wet grounds, everyone turned out to have a good time.  We walked through the exhibits and picked our favorites, not always the ones that won ribbons.  I didn’t get to visit all the animals, but we of course hung out with the pigs, as Peyton (2nd Place) and Logan (6th Place) had pigs through 4H.  The pigs will be sold at market this morning and I’m excited to hear how they will do.

One of the things I always look forward to is getting Cheese Fries from Dana’s concession truck.  Yum!  The boys got pizza but the ‘adults’ got the cheese fries, and didn’t share!  Yum again!

When Uncle Mark showed up, we treated the group to funnel cakes, which made us all happy.  I particularly enjoyed the fact that the PA system was spitting out my favorite country tunes, and when the rain began in torrents a little later, I slipped into the stage pavilion and listened to the local bank Cross Creek – again country – playing cover songs and doing a great job!

The main reason I chose Friday for the fair this year was to pick up 13 Mums of varied and sundry colors that several of us had ordered from the boys for a Bible Bowl fundraiser.  I hadn’t given much thought as to how I was going to fit 13 HUGE Mums into my Mazda CX3, or how we were going to see the tiny little color dots on the black pots in the dark rain at 9:15pm.  So 45 minutes later – with 4 of us wet and dirty and a very mixed up tangle of confusion of colors and numbers, I was headed back I-70 toward New Stanton and a warm home.  I was soaked and tired and thirsty, but took a deep breath….  OK, wrong thing to do.  The pungent fragrance of those mums stung my eyes and made my nose tickle!  But anyway, I decided that this was an adventure, and everyone pitched in to be part of it, and the boys’ team made over $1000 total toward their program, AND I love those guys!

So this morning, in the bright morning sun, I have 13 happy Mums lined up on my back deck, delightedly waiting for their adopted families to pick them up.  I’ll enjoy them while they are here, and I can’t wait to see these little buddies blooming bright colors!  My purple and pink will serve to remind me that every day can be an adventure, and that we only have one chance at it!  Happy flower day, everyone!