Utah State Fair

Shannon and I decided per her suggestion that we experience a bit of Utah culture by going to the state fair. She asked several people around her what it was like and none of them had been or at least not in decades. Between that and the extremely cheesy commercials that we watched online, we were very dubious as to the entertainment and enjoyment values of this event. So we decided to go on a day that the PRCA Rodeo was there. Of course we had to wear attire to support home while there. Shannon doned a Syracuse University shirt (not to be confused w/ Syracuse, UT) and I wore my I ♥ NY shirt.

Compared to the NYS Fair, the Utah State Fair is tiny. I'm not sure just how to accurately depict the small size but it was a fraction of NY's. One of the buildings had fine art by amateurs (like in NY) and we were rather impressed by some of the works. When you see artwork by kids that you can only dream of creating, you feel very humbled and like you are way behind the 8 ball because you can't do anything so neat. One display was particulary striking. A girl who is disabled (some sort of muscle degenerative disease but I don't remember the name...maybe MS) creates these incredible drawings and she can't even sit up! She did some pointillism and even had a piece of work on cards sold by an organization at Christmastime that uses the proceeds for research or something (you know, the fundraiser cards). Amazing girl.

Shannon was most apalled by the meager animal barns as she was well acquainted with those in NY, which are much larger and fuller. I must agree with her on the disappointment...you'd think it'd be better in an area that has a decent amount of agriculture and farm animals.

The rodeo was really neat despite the cool, gusting wind. We saw bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, team roping, and women's barrel race as well as a demonstration by a big horse group (don't remember what they're called). There was also bull riding but we were rather cold and wanted to do some more things before the fair closed. My favorite is the barrell racing as it looks like fun (Ati and Ian say it is too) and not nearly as insane as the other events however neat they are. I can't believe more people don't get more hurt more often. Crazy people...but still cool.

In the time before the fair ended, we got a candy/caramel apples to top off our day of fair food. Earlier in the day I had a gyro, some nachos (good ones), corn on the cob and some of Shannon's fries. Mmmm...food is one of the best parts of this fair. Then we went to make a Danceheads DVD. Basically, you sit there and try to lip synch the words to a song while you sit in front of a green screen and behind a half green screen with the effect that your head is isolated. Your head ends up on the body of some dancing character on the screen and the result is hilarious. We got a free DVD of ourselves to laugh at for years to come...too bad I didn't pick a song we knew...opps. :-P It was great fun nonetheless.