Death Panel Country

We drove deep into “Death Panel” country this week to attend the Wyoming County Fair in Pike, New York. New York’s gun toting junior senator was there and I grabbed a photo of her giving a balloon to a little kid. She got pretty cool reception when they introduced her. We rode down with Jeff and Mary Kaye and Jeff really knows the back roads so the scenery was “I Love NY” dreamy. We made this trip last year but our timing was off. We were there at the end of the week and the animals had already gone home. We did have fresh lemonade, ride the Ferris Wheel and see a nasty tractor pull.

This year we went on Tuesday and the fairground barns were full of prize winning livestock. We wandered around for hours and looking at goats, cows, rabbits, pigs, chickens, roosters, horses and sheep. We sat in the stands and watched the judging of cows and horses. It was hard for us to tell whether they were judging the animal or the the handler but that really didn’t matter.

There were no freak shows or creepy things in formaldehyde jars but there was a midway with the usual corn dogs and fried dough fare and farm equipment on display and booths selling t-shirts, wood stoves and ATVs. And a few buildings were devoted to trade show like booths for groups like the American Legion, the Republican Party, Right To Lifers offering tiny feet lapel pins for a dollar, a church group with free literature debunking evolution and a group that wanted to bring back “God given Jewish Law” that stated that “both persons involved in a homosexual act were to be be put to death.”

I spent a few minutes watching contestants play “I Got It”. The operator had a silky smooth voice and the contestants looked like they were in a trance. I took a short movie of one game and it turned out I caught a woman throwing two balls on one turn. Watch closely on ball number three.

More photos from the Wyoming County Fair

2 Comments