NEW JERSEY STATE FAIR

I went back to my sister's house yesterday to go to the New Jersey State Fair.  I try to go every year, but didn't get there last year because of my illness.  So I was really looking forward to it this time.  Since I am working every weekend for the rest of the month, it had to be this weekend that we went.  We even got half-price tickets and things were looking really good.

I had a good ride up there.  Very little traffic and lots of nice sunshine.  But when I got to Chester, NJ (about a half-hour from Elaine's house) it started to cloud up.  Oh well.  It was suppposed to get cloudy.  That's okay.  It's a little cooler that way.  And believe me, some of the years we have been up there have been scorchers!

I got to Elaine's with no problem, brought things in from the car, lightened my purse and grabbed a tote bag out of the trunk of my car.  We discovered that tote bags are wonderful for carrying all the little things you buy or accumulate during the day.  Then we set out for the fair.  It takes about 45 minutes to get there.  Usually it is a slow drive, but there was not as much traffic as usual and we made good time.  I always take a picture of the fair from the road leading into it.  It's my "hooray we're at the fair" picture.

We were both hungry so the first thing we did was get something to eat.  Boy do they ever have you at these places.  $14 for a hot dog, 4 chicken fingers and 2 bottles of water.  But it was enough to hold us over.  We started looking around at the different craft booths, looked at the map trying to decide where to go next and splat!  A raindrop.  Oh well, a little rain never hurt anybody.  We went into the kitchen supply tent.  I got a new egg slicer since mine had broken and a can/bottle opener.  I can never find the one I have.  Splat! Splat!  More rain.  We ran into a tent that was selling glass pendant necklaces.  They are all so beautiful.  And only $3.  Which one to buy.  I like this one, and this one and this one is nice.  I decided on an amber and white heart.  We started heading toward the craft tent.  Then the heavens opened and it was a downpour.

We ran into the commercial tent.  So did a lot of other people.  Everyone was wet.  It was very crowded.  We got some Avon stuff in there, looked at a lot of the other stuff and bought a few things.  We were hoping the rain had let up, but no such luck.  We really wanted to go to the craft tent, so looked on the map, figured out where it was, and made a run for it.

The craft tent was great.  So many talented people with so many beautiful things.  I got a couple of things for gifts at the Swarski crystals table.  I got Joe a jar of homemade sugar free strawberry jam.  The jewelry was beautiful.  The clothes were great but expensive.  Woodworking was wonderful.  So much to see.

Has the rain let up yet?  No.  Still pouring.  Now all the rides have stopped running.  The food booths were putting up plastic sheets in front of them to keep the rain off of the food.  A lot of the craft/store booths had plastic in front of them too.  Should we leave?  What fun is the fair in the rain.  But we decided I had just driven 2 1/2 hours to get there and I wanted to see something.

We ran into the next building we came to.  It was different agencies in the county showing what was available to the residents.  Since neither of us were residents of the county we weren't really interested.  But I did take some literature from the Sussex County Library System.  I like looking at other libraries.

Still raining.  I want to go to the Richards Building.  They always have the art exhibit in there.  Another run.  Well, now we are down to a fast walk.  We are getting wetter and wetter.  The art exhibit was wonderful.  Professionals and amateurs.  Oils, pastels, watercolors, pencils, photography.  Each one more beautiful than the one before.

Then we walked to the other side of the room.  There was a lady weaving fabric on a loom.  Really interesting to watch.  I could never do that.  It was so intricate.  There were two ladies sitting nearby with spinning wheels.  I started talking to one of them about spinning and how long it took her to learn it.  She said she picked it up rather quickly, that it wasn't hard.  She said she gave lessons and asked if I would be interested.  I said I was, but I lived in Philadelphia, so it wasn't practical.  She said, "Then I'll teach you now.  Sit down at this empty spinning wheel."  I did and she taught me.  It was so much fun!  I actually spun a couple of yards of thread!  She said I was very good at it and took it off of the spindle and gave it to me to take home.

I have wanted to use a spinning wheel since I was a little girl.  It was a blast!  I came home and told Joe I wanted a spinning wheel and some raw cotton.

We walked over to where there was a quilt contest.  They were hanging from the ceiling and you voted on which one you liked best.  But how could you choose?  They were all beautiful.

The quilt on the bottom right (the brown and white one) was being raffled off.

This counted cross-stitch picture was beautiful.  What a lot of work went into it.

There was a checkerboard set up and people were sitting down, playing a game, then getting up and leaving.  It reminded me of an old general store.

On the way out we saw the robot they have every year.  Whoever runs him has such a sense of humor.  The comments he was making about the people he "saw" had us hysterical.

It was still raining, so we decided to call it a day.  Walking back to the car we got soaked.  We went home and dried off and got a pizza for dinner.  No petting zoo this year.  No 4-H.  No equestrian competition.  No aerial exhibit.  No chainsaw carver.  Until next year that is.