A Girl's Guide to Autumn Oaks at Wayne County Fairgrounds

Let me begin by apologizing to the lady coon hunters out there. This is in no way meant to offend you. I realize that there are several of you out there and that you defiantly hold your own at the event known as Autumn Oaks.

Each year over the Labor Day weekend thousands of men and their hounds converge upon the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Richmond, Indiana. Campers, tents, truck canopies and dog kennels appear seemingly overnight. Men from across the United States and Canada come to competition hunt, bench show, look for a new hound or shop for the latest in hunting equipment. However, if the truth is told, they come to gossip. If someone had told me that a person could talk to a stranger for an hour over something like a coon dog only to move on to another stranger and start all over again. . . Well, I probably would have believed them as I am married to a man who can tell more by the sound of his dog's bark then the average mother can tell about her baby by the sound of her cry. I'm not exaggerating, ask any woman married to a coon hunter, they'll tend to agree with me. The sense of goodwill and comradery is something I have never seen behind the scenes at any other kind of event where people come to compete. While I appreciate the sentiment, I don't want to be standing around for hours on end listening to dog talk. Experiencing this kind of socializing makes me wonder if my husband feels the same way when I drag him to the scrapbook store.

The appeal of this event is beyond my comprehension. I am far from being a girlie-girl, but I cannot understand walking around all day long looking at hound dogs and briar chaps, especially with no funnel cake booth in sight.

It is not all bad, there is shopping! There are two barns filled with vendors. Most of the vendors do cater to the hunting clientele with technological gadgets, dog supplies and hunting gear. There are also vendors with a wide selection of clothing, vendors with home decorative items and vendors with gift items.

The only food that is offered at the event is in the pavilion. Prepared and served by the Wayne County Coonhunter's Club, all proceeds go to benefit them. They food is not overly expensive, and the portions are more then enough to satiate your appetite. The choices are limited, but are country style and freshly prepared. If you aren't interested in country style food and don't mind losing your parking spot, Richmond has a large variety of eateries to appeal to your belly.

The pavilion is also a great place to get freebies from companies like Purina and Black Gold. If you're at Autumn Oaks, you probably have dogs, and you won't turn your nose up at free dog food and dog supplies! Head over to the UKC booth and purchase an Autumn Oaks sweatshirt. It'll go great with the glazed eyes and plastered smile that you keep giving your boyfriend/husband/Dad/etc.

As far as an event schedule is concerned, don't look for entertainment outside of the competition hunts and bench shows. There are no bands, parades or anything of that sort. There are, however, seemingly miles of very cute hound dog puppies to oooh and ahhh over. Some of the handler's aren't bad either.

I cannot recommend Autumn Oaks as a great time out with the girls, but go with your boyfriend/husband/Dad/etc. It will rack up brownie points that you can use to your advantage at a later date, like the next time you want to go shoe shopping!