Fair Season is DONE!

Shared the stage with the very good clean act Hypnotist Tammy Harris-Barton
Matt Mavrick Burton (I'm stealing his cards.)
An honest pose.

With our last show at the Tehama Fair in Red Bluff came the end of our fair season and the start of our Theater and Corporate season. 12 days from now with the props cleaned and the focus shifted we start on the less dusty of our markets.

We performed our standard three shows...the 2nd show had to be short because the diaper derby was starting 30 minutes into our show...in front of our stage area. So We did a very fast show...Jugglin Jim did only 2 of the shows today because he had to head back up to college for early classes tomorrow.

The last show's audience was the smallest we had all weekend with around 80-100 people and they weren't as spunky as the other audiences. Not the best way to end a run. Still we made a bunch of friends, net some new performers, tasted some good tri-tip and smoothies, and had a generally good time.

Red Bluff---Day 2

Sleeping beauty-----during the show.
Princess admire a tank of fish...the first time we saw a mini-aquarium with all kids of local fish at a fair.
In the floral building the Princess pose in front of a really long cactus.
Cowboy Ken....claims he lost 13 lbs since May (SIlver Dollar Fair....check it out on the May blogs)
The nice smoothie vendors...if you are at a fair and see this stand...get your drinks here.
Peyton's Mom owns the Science exhibit.....the Princess' endulge in the sciences.

Amazing Light Schedule today....two stage shows and some strolling.

Both audiences were full houses and the shows went swimmingly! It's nice to have Jugglin' back with us....he missed a few gigs due to the first year of college stuff. His character and showmanship are brilliant.

There is a strolling juggler at the fair as well. He is 35 but looks like he's 17 or so. He is very talented but like some he chooses to wear tie-dyed shirts, different color vans shoes, sequins vest and or hats, and baggy pants. Being cotton the outfit is somewhat faded and comes across artisian-hippy-ish. (He is from Berkley.) I mention again he is very talented but not a showman...he has substituted the loud ridiculous for the clever and polished. But I mention again he is VERY talented....he can do a lot of great stuff with his juggling and unicycle, etc....but he comes across as a big brother fooling around with the kids. But he is skillful.

There is also a close-up magician doing a close-up strolling show with mostly cards... He's Matt the Maverick. He is excellent. his sleight of had is great and he has great presence. He wears cowboy gambler wear.

Olivia fell to sleep laying prostrate on the stage near the sound during the first show...it charmed the audience.

Tehama District Fair-last fair of the season

The Princess with our vendor Friend Michelle...she gave them all the accessories you see...our sound man is on the phone behind them.

It's nice to end our Fair Season with a fair close to home. Last year we closed it with a fair in Texas. Still only 60 miles from home...no motels...no fast food. Don't get me wrong, we love traveling but after a very busy and successful season a slower pace is nice...at least for a short time. We start our theater and corporate season October 10th. (We still do an occasional festival or theme park during the theater season.)

The Red Bluff fair has great audiences but the stage there sucks. It's tiny, it holds heat in, and it has low ceilings. We haven't performed here in six years. We've resisted until this year....I gave in to the money...I feel so dirty.

We have come a long way these past six years. We've learned to acclimate ourselves to any stage...and if we can do it here we can do it anywhere. Instead of using their back stage we set a tent on the side with our trailer and we are working out of that.

The stage is skirted with cheap plastic birthday party plastic skirting and it's not fire-rated. So when it caught fire when a drop of fuel grazed it I had to pat it out....dumb....burning plastic sticks...and burns. There was no danger of a fire engulfing the place, and I should've used a towel to smother the fire....I have icky burns on my pinkie and ring finger now. OUCH! It's not too bad but it hurt.

the two Little Princess' drew first blood when it comes to being treated by vendors. The Aloha Smoothie people took a liking to the girls and the got little plastic tieras, magic princess wands, leis, and little stuffed dolphins, and a smoothie each. We have know these people for many years as we have worked events they have vendored at. Just last year we worked with them at the Sonoma County Harvest Festival. Like us they bring their child on the road with them. Really nice folks.

The Swan Bothers are here too (the clowns who perform a cute program for kids). We work with them at least twice a year.

Two bands that are regulars on the Norcal circuit are Wylde Side and Cottonwood. Wylde Side are the ones we worked with at Modoc. We share the same hometown. Cool dudes. Cottonwood we worked with at Silverdolalr Fair. Made the mistake of talking politics with them. I am a right wing Christian Nut and two of them are cool-aid drinking lefties (all said with smiles and a wink) bless their hearts. They told me straight out that ABC News and the New York Times don't make mistakes and are not slanted toward any party. HAH! That's like saying Fox News is the all Obama station. (By the way I am not Republican or Democrat. I am one of those Independents the candidates are courting.....man I have no dog in this hunt.)

Newark Days (Day 2)

This picture appeared in the local paper on Monday.

Our first show wasn't until noon so we got to sleep in. Then after a good hotel b-fast and a run to the local Lucky's to get lunch and snack food (we don't do fair food....$$$$ and health) we got to the park and started the clean up. An empty stage becomes the play ground of kids, teens and adults. it also becomes a picnic ground. People when in public at a fair or festival and with friends become pigs. I mean that. The filth they create, the garbage they refuse to throw away, the damage they are willing to purposefully create is always surprising me. Sadly, we also have come to expect it. "Don't get on stage", "stay off stage" etc signs become mere decorations. One sign even had a gang "sign" drawn onto it. This is the only part I really hate about fairs and festivals. We even found an empty bottle of booze (whiskey) in our backstage area ( in Modoc a few weeks ago we found a used condom). Sad to say most of the mess isn't from kids but from adults.....I've witnessed it.

OK, that rant aside.

Tamaka and the Empress, a really nice magical pair, performed with us today. They are really good and they are very nice. We both drew good crowds. He is also a Christian Magician and it is always nice to be around brothers and sisters in Christ.

An old high school friend, Connie and her son, came out to see our show. It has been over 25 years since I saw her. She is looking good and has a very nice son. Her husband (a football star of yore ...she was a cheerleader...a match made in heaven or television) and her daughter couldn't make it. Still it was nice to see her again. I guess since the passing of a good friend and classmate, Paul, a month ago has made me a bit nostalgic. By the way her son was very helpful in our pack up.

We were packed up by 7 and on the road to home....three hours later we pulled into home base.

Another fun, safe, and blessed trip complete.

Today (Monday) is Titus' B-day...He's our disabled son who doesn't perform int he show. he's 11 today.

Newark Days Day 1

The kids on the stage...noitice the banner. It's our old show banner before the Circus name came in. The event is magic focused.
Magic Dan and the girls.
We are in Newark, Ca right next to Fremont, CA for those of you who have no Idea there was even a Newark, CA. We are performing at a local event called Newark Days; a celebration of the city of Newark.

We had to leave home base at 4:30 AM so that we could get to the park where the event was being held so that we wouldn't be blocked from getting in due to a race and a parade... we had to be there before 8AM. We made it! We are sharing our stage (the stage we brought) with other acts. One act today, Magic Dan and tomorrow Tamaka and the Empress.

Dan is a local Bay Area Magician that primarily performs for schools and libraries. He's a real nice guy and the kids like him. He drew good crowds. He doesn't perform big illusions; he performs smaller parlor tricks. His routines are well thought out and he is very good and working his name into the show constantly; a great PR move...people will remember him.

We had good crowds too. We reached a broader audience and, though all three shows were packed and the audiences were responsive, the third show was the liveliest. My humor seem to to go over well.

After good shows and a fun day we packed up and headed out to dinner (the trailer and tents stayed behind). We went to the best restaurant in Fremont, The Country Way on Mowry Ave. I went here over 25 years ago as a kid. They used to serve the drinks in mason jars. The service was ultra fast and the folks there are kind. All of us ate to our fill and still had to ask for take out boxes. MMMMMMM!

Like always the girls charmed everyone. One of the vendors even gave them each a blow up frog doll. Victor got a blow up airplane. The vendor's names are Larry and Linda and they are both magic enthusiasts. Nice folks. They both are full of stories of various performers they've met. He told one story about an event he went to that Harry Blackstone Jr was supposed to be at. But Harry had died a week earlier. Then he told a story of another performer who was supposed to be at another event but it turned out he too had died shortly before the event. I just want to make sure that any event I plan on going to Larry isn't supposed to be there because I might die the week before the event.

Coming up on shifting gears

Today was prep day for Newark Days, a festival celebrating Newark, CA. It's a pretty big festival and the theme this year is Magic (last year Circus) so we have fit in two years in a row. This and Tehama County Fair in Red Bluff, CA next week caps our fair-festival season as we move into the multi-market month of October....sometimes festivals, always amusement parks, and theaters, some school family fun nights.
Today was also the day I spent painting the new illusion, Things That Go Bump...where I make three ghosts appear and then I close myself in the illusion-box (looks like the top tier of the Adams Family House) and then each hopping ghost takes off it's sheet the third one being me....but wait I was just int he box....it's empty now! Even adding smoke pots to the box. It should be done next week.
Cheers.

A Short Time Off- new stuff

After the Children's festival last week we have taken a well deserved nearly two-week stint off. But, let's face it, there really is no such a thing as time off. I say that because while on the road office things, household things, school things,etc pile-up. So we play catch up with all that.


There is also the touching up of paint, fixing the broken, washing and cleaning the dusty and dirty, and building the new for the show. Those who watch our show and show up at least 15 minutes prior to the show know we use a cool song at the 15 minute mark prior to the show. It's called, "Bump in the Night" from the Scoobie Doo Movie. I always wanted to do a trick to that music. As a kid I saw Doug Henning perform the a trick that is called "Bump in the Night" where he makes several "ghosts" appear and at the end one of the ghosts turns out to be Doug, who you just saw a second earlier.....it's easier to explain if you see it. And you will be able to see it next month. I have already began construction on the Illusion (though the method and props are different from Doug's it's the same concept).

Doug Henning

We have also taken the research from our strong man routine performed by Victor (we test performed it at the Cantaloupe Festival) and are moving to stage two taking the lesson from the tests as well as redesigning the props.


Princess Amelia will introduce a very cute but very perplexing mind reading puzzle to her repertoire. She will read the audience member's mind with the help of a teddy bear. Don't let the concept trick you into thinking this is going to only fool kids....I promise you adults will be just as puzzled.


People waiting for new wand tricks on the wand tricks page won't have to wait much longer I plan on having them up this week.

Glenn County Children's Fair

With the end of the first part of our west coast tour last week end I thought a week without shows would be nice...turns out when you're on the road the stuff around the house piles up. And since we don't have a maid, a Gardener, and the like the work falls on us, the homeowner.....so the new fence is section by section getting put up, the grass is getting mowed back down from jungle length to respectable crew cut length. The weeds are getting pulled, the office is getting cleaned up...HA....Too scared to tackle that one yet.
Well, Saturday brought us a little break in our break (we return to a heavy full load next weekend). We agreed to perform at an event just 45 minutes from home, the Glenn County First 5 group asked if we would do a stage show and strolling from 10 am to 2pm in Willows, CA.
It went swimmingly! We brought only 3 or our 12 4X8 stage sections and it was a good thing we did....it was a cramped area with quiet a few vendors and activities for the kids. It was a bit worrisome at the beginning because the seating (or standing) area in front of our stage was the intersection of the two roads where the event was taking place, and they had turned it into a kids obstacle course of sorts. So at 5 minutes to show start no one knew where to stand or sit. We set a travel cloth (covers props in the trailer) to sit on (the road was getting hot...it would reach 100 degrees). Still even with announcing it seemed no one was coming over. Then at about 1 minute 'til they showed up. We had a good sized audience for an event this size (the smallest event we've done this year).
Miles and Cynthia did the strolling and the little ones hit the vendor booths and amassed a fabulous booty of toys, pencils, coloring books, etc. One eye doctor booth gave away sticky eyeball toys....you know throw them at the wall and the stick...if you can get them unstuck from your hand. A shout out to Sierra, the office manager running the booth.
We ended up providing the sound for the event as they didn't have any other...well they did but they didn't have a sound guy to work it so we were the default. An older couple from the town did some singing using our stuff too.
Off to home after the clean up because Jugglin; Jim is coming home for a visist.
Cheers

Last Day- Home and a Birthday

Getting a free ride around the fair with Andrea the Fair Manager and today the lady that drives the water sprayer cart.
Princess' boogieing with the clowns.

Pink Gorilla riding his bike enticed by a banana. (Our new strolling act)

Free Bull rides ( a bit scary)
Not scared here!
The tiger show with their human prey....I mean trainers.

Labor Day at the Fair- Not as windy. Today's first show was scheduled at the same time the Parade downtown was scheduled so our audience was made up of about 50 people. It started to increase near the end of the show. Only two shows on Monday. The last show was also the last scheduled event at the festival so we had a good crowd.

As always it was pack up time and that went fast. The BBQ guy (http://www.rutherfords.ws/) were generous and gave us a couple of giant BBQ tacos, a Bubba -rib rack and a large Pork Rib bone. Vendors at these events are often so wonderful and nice.

Nice thing about this gig is that we are only 4 hours from homebase and the next three or four days are gigless (no gigs).

Tuesday (today) is Princess Olivia's 3rd b-day so it was pancakes for lunch and shopping for a couple of dresses, shoes, and toys from a big toy store (who refused to sponsor us once so I won't mention their name).

Ice cream and a jelly-bean cake tonight.

Stepped on....twice

After a crazy windy day we were blessed with an even crazier windy day. However, the non windy parts were calmer than yesterday...the windy parts were off the chart.
The schedule had us on stage at noon following a local band. The band had virtually no time to set up after the Swan Bros. By the time they were set they had 30 minutes to do a set then we would go on with no set up time. (The scheduler goofed.) Well, the band ignored the schedule and stepped on our time by 30 minutes. If we went on when they finished it would've still taken 30 minutes to pull their stuff and set ours before we could start....so the manager asked if it was OK if we just canceled the noon show. We did. We sent out the pink gorilla and the clown as strollers to at least do something during our scheduled spot.
The Band was back on at 1pm and due off at 2pm so we can set up for our 2:30. At 1:59 he was introducing one of his sub-acts and according to the sound guys he was still supposed to do his own personal song to close his act. The MC, the sound guy and I all realized this guy was about to hijack the time slot and step on us AGAIN. So just as the band-guys sub-act finished...the exact moment the last note played, the sound guy with the MC, the manager and my blessing cut power to the band guy's mic. The MC then started making his announcements for the fair as the band guy quickly realized he was cut off. He turned his head quickly in the direction of the sound booth and signaled for his mic. The MC signalled back, "see you at 5:30") . The arrogant band guy learned a lesson today.
In my experience over the years pro-performers do their best to stick to the schedule and even if it isn't their fault they will apologize if they step on another performer's time. This guy didn't apologize...very similar to the guy in New York who stepped on us...except the New York guy was really good....the guy today was an acceptable amateur (talent-wise).
No pictures today because the battery died midday.
Dinner was a rare trip to a sit-down joint. We usually don't go to sit down joints because you have to wait a long time for service, for the food, etc. Then you have to pay more than if you do the grocery thing. Then you have to tip (I like tipping for good service but that is extremely rare.)
Tonight dining out lived up to my expectations. We went to Jerry's in Fallon. We seated ourselves. Got our own menus. The bus-man over filled my coffee to overflow and ran off to get a towel to clean it up. He forgot one place setting then one water. The waitress took about 10 minutes to even realize we were there. Then kid's menus had to be searched for. The order was long in coming and then arrived in two waves, incomplete. The happy face pancakes had only a blob of butter on them...the noses, I think? the strawberry pancakes had no berries or whipped cream...they arrives in a bowl later. The kid's drinks came at meals end. And my coffee cup ran empty.....once......never had a chance to run empty twice. It took a 5 minute wait at the register to pay for our meal.

News to waiter and waitresses everywhere....I tip 50%! Really I do. But if you are sloppy, slow, forgetful, wasteful or lazy it begins to shrink. In spite of her 5% performance I gave her a 13% tip...reluctantly....Cynthia suggested a dollar in an upside down glass of water.....The furry of women. I should mention that the bus boy apologized for errors...the waitress never did. what is up with manners these days?

OK...it wasn't a great day. But it gave me a story to write down here. There is one story from this week that I will only hint at but decorum keeps me from being less than cryptic. Two nights ago sleep for me was interrupted by the neighboring room and the activities therein that lasted from 4am until 6am. Wow. the energy of some people. It's a story.

This fair feeds the entertainers. yesterday it was pizza. Today...really wonderful homemade spaghetti! I ussually lose weight on the road.....not this trip.

Clowns Bands Fire and Wind

Victor Posing near our backstage tent with water and pizza provided for us by the fair.
Princess' Olivia and Amelia take in the Swan Bros show
The Swan Bros.
In this candid shot you can see Princess Amelia's new toothloos look. Now we really do look like we come from Oroville.

Day 2 in Fallon, NV. Not much to report except that it was windy today. Many vendors had to refasten their tents..having been in many East-coast and Mid-west thunder storms we had the advantage of knowing how to tie down our changing-room tent securely. Wind in the Nevada Desert is hard and dry so we all used lots of lip balm. And our hair is pretty crispy dry by night fall.
Our biggest challenge this week has been to re-create a show without Jugglin' Jim. He has been such an important part of the show and part of the show character is lost without him. We have even had a couple of people who saw us last year ask about Jim. Without Jim we also have to find 10-20 minutes more material to fill his spot. So far so good. We have been very well received and the comments after the show have been very nice. Good size audiences too.
One hard start today was when our show and the tiger show started at the same time. (A group who teach and entertain with Bengal tigers is here.) Let's face it the mere presence of tigers whether performing or just there will have that natural draw from curiosity. Thankfully there act is short and when finished we got their whole audience. Still we started that show with around 50 people who specifically wanted us.
The Swan Bros have arrived. They are a pair of real brothers who do a lot of goofy silly things and skillful juggling. They have been performing here for many many many years. They have their local fan base. Nice guys too.
The band tonight needed the time that was set for our last show (a 30 minute show slot) to set up so we just performed a cool fire-eating and fire-whip routine. The crowd went wild for the fire. Perfect setting: it was dark. Not the perfect whether: the wind. One back blow from nature engulfed my face in a ball of flame once and my left sideburn lost a little bit of it's fullness. (Not the first time to have this happen...I know how to handle it...respect the flame!)
Miles knocked them dead with his fire whip and the giant fireball it creates. Miles also has taken Jim's sound man duties very effectively.
I almost forgot about the “lunch-box” auction. Just like in the olden days. It was a fundraiser for the local boys and girls club. For a donation via auction you won a lunch made by local restaurants or others and dine with a local celebrity.
Got a call from Jugglin’ Jim today…it was touching…he wanted money for books….ah, college kids.

Hearts of Gold

Dance group doing, "Thriller"
Th Pink Gorilla advertising the Hearts of Gold Cantaloupe Festival and Fair t-shirt.

Notice Amelia has lost her first tooth.

Phil the sound guy and Tim and his wife.
The kids playing in the hay maze.
The stage.

We arrived in Fallon this afternoon, checked in to our hotel and went to the Fairgrounds. I was surprised that our good friends Zippy and Hi-tops wasn't there yet (They make up the brother team of the Swan Brother's Circus). Turns out that someone erred in the schedule and the Swans will be here tomorrow. That and the fact the band showed up so late caused the powers to be to ask us to do one LOOOOOOOONG show. We did a 90 minute show (and didn't loose a soul from the crowd).

The band, Nevada Hazurd (spelled that way), are pretty good. The drummer is an amateur magician. There was also a local dance group of teens. (That is what the fair is all about.) The dancers even put on makeup and did Thriller.

The kids goofed off in a small hay-bale maze and made a few friends while the big kids and I set up the show.

Phil and Matt (the sound guys) and Tim and his wife (the MC) from last year are here again this year. They are really nice and we have similar senses of humor.

During the show we introduced Victor's new "World's Strongest Boy". Like all new tricks it will take a while to develop into a great trick....right now it's just OK.

During the show some kid used a laser pointer to disrupt me so I said, "Whoever is pointing that laser better knock it off before I come out there, find you and cram it down your throat." The audience burst out in applause. I followed up by saying, "and they will help me!" More applause. After the show a BIG burly man told me he and another guys found the boys and took care of them....I just said, "Thanks"....I hope the kids aren't dead.

Nevada Short Tour

A Short tour is a tour of one or two gigs lasting a week or less. We are heading out to Fallon, NV for the Hearts of Gold Cantaloupe Festival. it is our 2nd year. It sure was fun last year so we are really looking forward to it this year. The small trailer (the one which had the broken axle at the start of the Eastern Tour) is back in service with a new stronger axle. Turned out the spring had broke and that led to the trailer smashing onto the old axle bending it. All is new now and it's all loaded up. With Jim off to college the Miles and Princess Cynthia had to learn the hard way how to balance load a trailer...they had to unload it then reload it to get it right.
The trip is only about 4 hours so as far as driving goes it's an easy gig. The weather promises to be 15-20 less than home (tomorrow should be 106 degrees here at home base).
Princess Amelia lost her first tooth today so she will look like a hockey player for this gig. A very cute Hockey Player.
Pictures and stories from the road start tomorrow.

Modoc Wrap Up

Sliding on cardboard on the grassy hill behind the staage as the sun sets.
The really nice BBQ guys. Gold bless them.
The Henry Riffle and shot gun raffle///I love this fair.
Voice of the fair.
Strange bug...a sphinx moth larvae.
Indian Taco.
There was a lot of this consumed by most of the adults here. (Not us)
Smile
Smile

Between shows in a sand box provided by Kid's Town America
The Wylde Side (Notice the drummer has a bag on his head.

These guys are from our hometown and they were a lot of fun...talented too.
This fly strolled a table I was sitting at for about 10 minutes without flying away. You could get within a half an inch of him with out him moving.
The ant (kind of hard to see...at the tail of the hornet) was pulling this dead hornet across the parking lot.

Sorry for not blogging sooner but the last two days of the fair found the hotel with router problems and hence no Internet.

Outside the big dance on Saturday night we drew the biggest crowds at each show. Being a small town and county (population-wise) it was good we rotated three shows because we had a number of repeat audience members (I call them stalkers). I suppose it is good sign when so many come back time after time.

The announcing duties (Voice of the Fair) went smoothly except when the line I used started to garble each time I used it (the amp is over 25 years old with large knobs like the old gas stoves, and the mic wasn't much younger) we changed lines then discovered the mic had a sweet spot...if you kissed the mic (Put your mouth against it) and spoke directly into the dented spot on the top the sound would go out over the PA. Problem solved.

The BBQ people were tremendously kind to us. They even made up 5 sandwiches to go at the end of the fair. And I gotta tell you thems was good BBQ!

The pack up was a bit slower than usual as the kids had been a bit sloppy in the pre-load prep.

But we did get it loaded and were on the road. This area is famous as the drive-way for Burning Man, a drunken pagan sex drugs and rock n roll event in the Nevada desert attracting people willing to pay the $400 gate fee from all over California, Oregon, Washington, and Canada All over the world really). So all along the hwy way down the mtn. we passed overloaded vehicle after vehicle on their way to the celebration of the soullessness. No doubt who was who because they dressed the parts in goth, mock-hippy, mocking (anti-)Christian, unwashed, matted hair, kilts, nearly naked, ripped and torn, etc etc costume. At the gas station in Alturas everyone of them in line in front of us bought liquor and exotic cigarettes. Not one drove a Prius. There were converted old school buses, campers, rusted cars, expensive cars, modified campers, home-made campers, several vehicles pieced together to create a camper like thing, etc.

Thankfully we made it off the hill and home before midnight...tomorrow (today) was the first day of school.

Modoc Fair day 2...the heavy schedule

No pictures today. Yesterday had one hour show and some strolling and he announcing duties were light. Today was the polar opposite. We had three one hour shows, one 30 minute show, and three hours of strolling plus the announcer duties. It was fun. The little one found some time to play in the sand box for a while.
At every fair we befriend many people. At this fair the BBQ vendors next to our stage have become good friends. Their BBQ pork is out of this world and Cynthia loves their tri-tip sandwich (she hates BBQ until now).
This fair had an event I've heard about but have never seen until today....the greased pig contest. A bunch of greased piglets are let loose and kids are set loose after them. They get to keep the pig they catch. The technique to a successful catch is to get the legs and hold it. The pigs are then put in a gunny sack and taken home.

Modoc Fair day 1

Victor and the Turkey...Victor is on the left!
The girls and the Clydsdales...they are huge! (The horses not the girls).
The old town recreation on the fairgrounds.

This area is interesting...look at the background...looks like the high desert...then there is green grass and trees. It's a mixture of desert and forest.
At the park we visited the hornets had made a nest in one of the kids toys.

(The farmers out here say that the increase in hornets in the area means it is going to be a cold wet winter...also read in the news last night that 2008 is the coldest in over 5 years...so much for global warming....I'm going to believe the hornet who God sent before I believe Al Gore who the Devil sent.)
Backstage.
Guess where we are at.

Some fairs have car shows....this fair has a buggy show.
Princess Olivia tries to get a better look at a pig.
This is a picture of the kids.

The fair starts at 5pm tonight...so we slept in, ate, played horse-shoes, found a local park and hung out there and still it was just noon when we got to the fairgrounds. The set up was fast since we didn't have to set up a stage or backdrop (a plus for work but a minus because we like to maintain a constant standard and that is taken away when we use a stage provided and the back of that stage whatever it may be). Still the grass around the stage is lush and green, the weather comfortable with a slight breeze...so it was easy to hang out here until show time.
I used the time meeting the vendors ( I am the "voice of the fair" so I have to announce the acts and events and tell about the vendors and stuff) and finding out about them so i can tell about them over the PA during the fair.
Princess Cynthia spent her free time typing papers for school (she is in AP classes and had summer homework). James, Miles, and the kids found various activities around the stage and around the fair to keep themselves busy. The little ones and I and Jim took a tour of the fair. There is an old town recreation on the fairgrounds with old buildings, vehicles and tools. We also visited the Budweiser Clydesdale exhibit.
We had only one show today and it started off a little weird. There was a big BBQ going on in our area and most of the area in front of the stage was set up for Pic Nic table dinning. So when our show started people were mostly gathered for eating. We would have to win them over. Then there were the ones who gathered especially for the show. They were won over before we even started. (I should mention that the crowds tonight were very sparse... we are in a town of 880 people and the next town is 30 minutes away and it is a Thursday).
We opened with the Nail in the head followed by the sword suspension...we won everyone over and lost knar a soul. In fact we gathered crowd up until the Spear Box Climax nearly an hour later.
Miles, Jim and Cynthia each did strolling tonight. As they did that I took the youngins to the commercial building (Olivia is only 2 but fully understands the concept of the commercial building and even asks to go there by name.) The commercial building houses the vendors who sell products or are there to promote a program or company. There are always free stuff like pencils, coloring books, candy (we have stopped the candy intake) stickers, water bottles, rulers, bandanas, toys, etc etc etc. They made out like bandits...especially at the Forestry table with Smokey Bear everything! Then we found a sandbox in a kids play area and castles, mountains and tunnels were built.
Back at the hotel we are eating and watching the Olympics. Good night!