Eastern Idaho State Fair

We were already heading to Idaho Falls to get the motor home's annual maintenance done, when we found another reason to stay an extra day. The town of Blackfoot, just 30 miles away, was hosting the Eastern Idaho State Fair that week. We love a good fair, so we made the drive to check it out. We found a long list of free activities, and of course we wanted to experience all of them. First stop was the Draft Horse Hitch competition. With four horses tethered to the same wagon, it was interesting to see how the handlers reined them around the obstacles and got them lined up for final inspection.

We also saw the mule single hitch competition, and the little pony carts warming up. We swung by the grand stand for the barrel racing, and to the Western Events Arena for the Morgan horse competition. Idaho obviously loves its equine events.

But the most fun competition of the day was called "Flying Feathers Draft Horse Race." The big Clydesdales and Welch horses that usually make up the four-horse-hitch teams suddenly turned into race horses. The grand stand was packed as the announcer introduced the riders and horses for the race.

And they were off! The girl riding her big draft horse bareback left everyone in the dust. Her horse was flying with all four hooves off the ground.

You have to have a sense of humor to participate in this event, and the #6 cowboy wearing the tutu and bikini top proved that, as the other horses galloped across the finish line.

The biggest crowd of the day filled the grandstands for the 1:00 p.m. horse pulling competition. We saw this at the Calgary Stampede a couple months ago, so we felt like seasoned spectators since we already knew all the rules. A team of two draft horses are hitched to a weighted sled, and they must move it 14 feet to advance on to the next round with more weight added to the sled.

It was an interesting event to watch, and we stayed to see the middle-weight champion taking his victory lap in the shade of the grand stand.

Besides the animal competitions, we also visited the buildings displaying the best and biggest in other categories. Every state fair needs to have the biggest pumpkin--this one weighing in at 309 pounds.

The cake competition looked deliciously realistic. This set of Moby Dick books and book-ends was actually a decorated cake.

The winning wedding cake had intricate detail that was precisely perfect in every strand of frosting.

The best-in-show in the professional sugar art sculpture went to this interesting piece of art made of sugar.

Denisa loved visiting the Idaho Master Garden where they were harvesting tomatoes. They had 14 different varieties cut up into sample sizes for "The Annual Tomato Tasting Experience." For a tomato-lover like Denisa, this was awesome! She has looked longingly at those expensive heirloom tomatoes at the farmers' markets, but never paid the extra money to buy them. Today, she got to taste them all, and found out she didn't like their flavors. She much preferred the sweeter cherry tomatoes--especially the "Sweet 100s" and "Rosella."

We've never raised artichokes in our garden, so we didn't know that leaving one on the plant resulted in a purple flower?!?

We also attended two cooking shows at the state fair. One was demonstrating how to make a French Dark Chocolate Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Ganache Frosting. The large number of syllables in the title of the dessert matched the large number of calories in each generous piece that members of the audience got to sample. Because our daughter-in-law has to eat gluten-free, we also attended the demonstration on that topic. We got good advice on things that are good replacements for wheat flour products, and we won a door prize for traveling the farthest to come to the fair.

We watched the schedule for free shows running throughout the day. We made the "Disc-connected K-9's" where rescue dogs were  doing crazy things to catch those discs.

We also went to "Marcus, the funny man who does tricks." His grand finale trick was balancing on a table, on a metal pipe, on three layers of metal with wood seperaters, juggling three knives. It was pretty scary for those of us close to the front with those knives flying from such a precariously perched juggler.

Musicians filled several stages all day, and we would have liked to stay for a repeat performance of the Rock Bottom Boys, playing hillbilly rock and roll. They were excellent, but we arrived at 9:00 this morning, and it was already 7:00 in the evening. We had walked and tasted and watched our way across every building and most of the competitions and shows that the state of Idaho had to offer. It was a great fair, and we're glad that our travel schedule accidentally brought us here to enjoy it.