well, i lie. we all know what the biggest draw is: food on a stick, preferably deep-fried into oblivion and hopefully sprinkled with some powdered sugar. and i don't discriminate - i love both the los angeles and orange county fairs. they're the only ones that are anywhere near us, although i bet it would be fun to check out other counties' offerings too. maybe someday.
plus, there's the shopping sections dedicated to all sorts of awesome crap i never knew i needed. you know, stuff like the shamWOW!, magical slushy makers, mops that practically do the work for you. that's always lots of fun, and i usually fall prey to at least one as-seen-on-tv-type gadget.
the other thing i like checking out is the culinary competitions. i always wonder how they judge a bazillion different chocolate chip cookie entries, or decide which homemade bread deserves a ribbon. and it's always fun to check out the cake decorating contest. there are some really talented folks out there. last year, i noticed plates of decorated sugar cookies and thought, huh. it would be super fun to try for a ribbon myself, and i vowed to keep an eye out for it for 2012. you know where this is going, yes?
yup. i managed to find all of the information and an entry form at the l.a. county fair's website, and because i am a fabulous procrastinator managed to get mine postmarked on the very last day. it cost all of $2 to enter the sugar cookie competition, and i started brainstorming right away on which design i'd submit. i felt very 4-H, but hey - it'd be kinda all sorts of awesome to add a blue ribbon to my accomplishments for 2012. or red, or whatever comes in third. but you know. YOU KNOW what i want is blue. that only-child syndrome rears its ugly head at really odd times.
as the day to drop off my entry loomed near, i got super lazy (shocking, i know) and ended up going with one of my simpler designs. i only had to submit six cookies, and so i opted for the cutesy vote with these:
now, they are slightly different from the usual baby face cookies i do. i added the bonnet with a flower and a little sparkle. and every one of that half dozen had a different facial expression.
the girls and i piled into the car on a super hot afternoon to drive the few miles over to the fairplex and deliver them. the fair opens tomorrow, so it was kinda cool to get in there for a sneak peek at what's to come.
some lucky folks were heading into the gate for a special media food preview. man, that would've been fun.
after checking in with the security guard, we received a parking permit and drove onto the fairgrounds.
look at all the incredibly unhealthy but super delicious-sounding grub we came across!
the girls dropped me off at the stadium, where the culinary styles section was located.
the ladies inside were really nice and gave me a bit of a boost with their gushing compliments on my cookies. there were tons of tables behind them that held all of the baking competition entries - cakes, cookies, breads, you name it.
they said that when the fair opens today at 3, this section would be all cleaned up and all of the items that placed would be displayed in the cases. so basically, if my cookies didn't stack up against the competition they'd be tossed out, never to be seen again. how sad. i'm still hopeful, though.
one more glance at all the stuff being set up before we headed back out the gate:
the fair always has some great deals on admission on opening weekend - like, $1 for the first few hours. since we live so close by, i think i'll drag the girls over there to check things out, maybe ride a ride or two, grab a snack, and oh yes - run my ass off straight over to culinary styles to see if my damn cookies made it or not.
oh, and if you happen to be up at 5:45 am PST on sunday morning, i'll take all the good luck vibes i can get. that's when i'll be dressed and waiting in my corral for the disneyland half. woohoo!
Keeping my fingers and toes crossed for your cookies!
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