City Girl Visits North Idaho Fair in Coeur D'Alene

Even though I'm a city girl, I've always loved going to the fair, so taking my granddaughter this past weekend to the North Idaho Fair, held in Coeur d'Alene, was a special treat. However, I never expected to be surprised by five things I saw for the first time at the fair.

Picture #1: Even though we arrived at what I considered early, the dirt parking lots were close to full. We ended up quite a ways from the fair's entrance. A fair parking lot volunteer suggested we wait for the shuttle to take us. I was expecting golf cart shuttles, as that's what often carts people around at events in Southern Cal.

My first fair surprise--our "shuttle bus' was pulled by a man driving a tractor. Took the corners of the narrow road comfortably and delivered us to the fair entrance in no time at all.

Picture #2: We were hungry, so first a delicious aroma and then the arrow pointing to a barbeque place got our attention. Another fair first-a freshly cooked ear of corn-on-the-cob served as a side with granddaughter's hot dog and my barbequed beef sandwich.. The corn tasted so crunchy and sweet-hadn't sat in storage for sure!

Picture #3: One of the farm animal buildings featured 4-H Club chickens. I was expecting white chickens. But the array of types of chickens was amazing. My fair favorite? The Polish Crested Chicken, a type I had never seen before. That topknot is gorgeous!

Picture #4: The fair had a whole building set aside for horses and mules. The first pen held something new to me--a female horse with her mule colt, the result of mating a male donkey and a female horse. Why don't mules mate? Because male and female mules are infertile.

The mother horse/baby mule was a combination I had never seen before. Later, we watched a trainer work with those two animals in an outside pen. It was a pleasure to watch the baby mule run alongside his mother. It seemed as if he understood the trainer's commands.

According to Wikipedia, some claim mules are "more patient, sure-footed, hardy and long-lived than horses, and they are considered less obstinate, faster, and more intelligent than donkeys."

Picture #5: One of the buildings featured rabbits. I was expecting brown rabbits, like in The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Or at least a white rabbit with pink ears-just like the Easter bunny. Instead this fluffy, brown and white, spotted rabbit with wide, short ears was one of a variety of rabbit colors and spots on display at the fair. He looked so soft, I wanted to hold him.

I recommend you go to the next fair showing in your area, for who knows what you might see for the first time?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule