sueeeus

I also got married on April 1st, 1960 and a couple of weeks later found out it was an April fools joke and had to get married again on April 21st.
We stayed married for over 30 years.

Hi! Tried to reply to your post to my blog, but since you signed in as anonymous it bounced again…sorry to do this on the blog, but here’s all the good stuff about the San Juan County Fair!

You know what…it might actually be worth going out as a walk-on for the ferry. The county fairgrounds are about a mile, mile and a half from the ferry landing, and there is usually a haywagon or something as a shuttle from the dock up to the fairgrounds (it’s easy to get there though…walk up Spring Street, the main drag. Where it forks at the bank, bear left onto Argyle and walk up a bit to the entrance to the fairgrounds). As you walk to the entrance, you’ll see behind the fence on your left the big barbeque area where there is often a small stage and the Lions and whomever take turns doing fundraiser dinners. In the big building are photography, fine arts, food preservation, baking and vendors and local groups etc. After you go through the new gatehouse, if you veer left to the big building, flowers and produce are on the outside under the overhang.

The animals and horses are to the right at the back end of the fairgrounds. Usually there are new piggies, lambs, horses, sheep (the nuns on Shaw clean up in the ribbons every year!), llamas, cows, bunnies, hens…the 4H kids do horse work…races, barrel stuff. Some years there is a pony ride, but not always. On the way back to the animals, the carnival comes to town. They got a good company finally (none of the low-life drifter types running the rides like there used to be….the carnies were actually nice, clean, pleasant!) for the rides, though they are expensive (what else is new ).

My favorite corner, of course, is the back corner…in the Wool Shed, where they have Textile Arts (stuff made from or on already-made cloth like quilting, clothing, needlepoint, embroidery) and Fiber Arts (stuff made from fibers, not yet cloth: knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving). The kids’ Arts and Crafts is back there too, with lots of legos! Best of all, on Saturday is “Sheep to Shawl”. Conceding to modern times and a lack of sheep shearers, they no longer shear the sheep that day, but teams of ladies start with a fleece (pre-dyed if need be) and they spin and weave shawls in one day, which they raffle to the benefit of the Fiber Arts guild! I still haven’t won it!

Then there is fair food….when you live on the island, you don’t get a lot of junk stuff, or “exotic” stuff life fried b read or gyros. I’d splurge and get TWO gyros during the course of the fair. And the folks from Lopez Island Creamery buy fresh berries and you can get the rich ice cream with fresh berries…heaven! Take lots of cash!

It really is small town, rural America at its finest. I think you love the fair more if you’re FROM the islands (the saying goes that you’re not an islander until you’ve entered something in the fair or volunteered…Paul never entered, but he did help staff the fire house…where kids get to practice going out the window on a ladder, so that counts, and the boys and I entered jams and flowers and all sorts of stuff….oh yeah….there is sometimes a scarecrow contest (the Cub Scouts got a first), or a decorated shoe…silly stuff). To tell you how much folks love it, a friend’s son enlisted in the Coast Guard, and couldn’t decide if his first vacation home would be for Christmas or the County Fair! The Fair won!

Well…probably a LOT more than you wanted to know, but it might just be worth a ride. Especially since you could park in Anacortes and avoid the long waits (and the ferry lines getting OFF the island during fair-week are just as bad as getting ON! all islanders just hunker down and plan trips for well before or after!) and just walk on (plus the rates for walk ons aren’t so bad). The grounds at the fair are dirt, grass, and sometimes a little gravelly, but most strollers can handle it, so if Boo will stay more or less in a stroller or kiddie backpack you could have fun, and I’ll bet he’d LOVE the bunnies! The 4H kids stay with their animals often and will take them out to let little kids pet them…..

And yes, it IS expensive there. We were barely scraping by–moving to a tourist destination on a pension to raise kids isn’t financially the smartest thing, but it sure was pretty, clean and safe. We moved away because the school district wasn’t cutting it, especially for our older son (who is bright and pig-headed, a lovely combination, eh ), but even here in Camden, Maine (which is reputedly one of the three most expensive areas in Maine) it is faaaarrrrrr less expensive living.

Anyway, enough of this tome! If you DO go, let me know what you think! Fair is usually somewhere between Aug. 8 and 20th….hey! I remembered it…they have a website http://www.sanjuancountyfair.org/

Cheers, Sarah (sniffle sniffle hack)

http://www.sarahannsmith.com
my blog: http://sarahannsmith.blogspot.com/
e-mail: sarah@sarahannsmith.com
—– Original Message —–
From: sueeeus
To: sarah@sarahannsmith.com
Sent: Sunday, April 02, 2006 7:36 PM
Subject: [Art and Quilting in Camden] 4/02/2006 07:36:06 PM

The San Juan County fair Is it really worth going This is sort of my neck of the woods and we could go if it’s really that good. 🙂 I’d love to live on SJ Island, but I think it’s not the easiest place to make a living. The last time I was there someone was grilling oysters in butter and lemon juice and they were delish! Oh yum. And I’m not sure I even like oysters, but the smell and the butter. Oh yum. Be well!

—
Posted by sueeeus to Art and Quilting in Camden at 4/02/2006 07:36:06 PM

Hi Sueeeus –
what a great story and I lurve the Van Gogh.
My Pea Princess’ birthday is April 1 so these days I barely think about the joke side of it – but I think it’s an excellent day for a wedding anniversary because, as you say, so much of a good relationship is about the times you laugh, right
Congratulations, showgirl!