Graham and I went to the Orono Fall Fair yesterday afternoon with our friends, Andy and Kelly and their daughter Sophie. It was a beautiful early autumn afternoon, and since it was Friday afternoon, there weren’t too many people on the fairgrounds, yet. There were a lot of school groups there, though, with little kids learning about how to milk cows and all about tractors and growing crops.
Pumpkins at the entrance to the agricultural exhibits. The big white squash on the right was the winner!
One of my favourite things to do at any autumn fair is look at the agricultural displays, including the vegetables that are grown locally and entered for prizes. There seems to be a real fascination with vegetables that are either freakishly large or just…freakish.
Look at the size of these beets! They were each about a foot long.
This tomato won a prize for Most Oddly Shaped Vegetable. It looks a little like a purple calabash tomato to me, a variety that does grow in very strange, “lumpy” ways. (See my purple calabash harvest from a few years ago.)
And finally, here is everyone’s very favourite large vegetable, the giant zucchinis.
To give you some perspective, you can see the giant beets in the background.
I’ve always wanted to enter some home grown tomatoes into the fall fair, but have never committed to it. Maybe next year!
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I used to love Markham Fair when it was a real old-fashioned agricultural fair. All those neatly organized collections of waxed fall leaves or nails from grade-school kids! The pies and veggies. Haven't been to a fall fair in ages.
Helen, I've never heard of waxed fall leaves, but I can imagine what they must be like, that sounds really pretty. Maybe you'll get out to one of the fairs around your home this fall?
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