Alameda County Fair 2015

Sunday, June 28th, Frank, Alex, and I went to the Alameda County Fair. We arrived mid-day.

We normally enter through the gate near the carnival rides but this year we entered at the gate near the livestock exhibits. Does the cow with the tutu give away just a bit of a clue?

Entering near the livestock meant that we visited Alex's favorite part of the fair first, the rabbit exhibit.

One entire building, row after row with one center aisle, was filled with racks of rabbit cages in groupings of sixteen, two cages high, eight cages per side.

 Alex loved feeding pellets to each one.

He moved about from one cage to another cage examining each bunny and petting those close to the edge with one finger.

One of the fair helpers took a bunny out of the cage so Alex could touch it up close and really stroke it with his whole hand and not just one finger.

We were in the rabbit exhibit a long, long, long time, but it is Alex's high point of the fair! Afterward we went to the model railroad exhibit, Frank's favorite part.

Fair food is always a draw but we no longer indulge in the exotic as much as we used to. Alex enjoyed hot dogs and fries while Frank and I had teriyaki bowls and egg rolls.

The weather was great for our outing, not very hot despite how it has been characteristically of late. After lunch we strolled through the landscape exhibits by the competing nurseries. They were calming but a bit less green this year because grass was banned due to our drought conditions. It was still enjoyable sitting in the shade however and listening to the music of the live performers. Frank and I even got up and danced a bit of swing. Alex watched us lazily. Frank and I joked he was in a food coma because of consuming too many larger-than-expected hot dogs. Speaking of food, this sign caught my eye.

One small building had display cases where entrants showed off their hobby collections. I found this one of sugar packets intriguing. What a clever and easily transportable souvenir to bring back from places visited! It was organized by themes such as ships, or trains, or landmarks, or international, etc.

Another collection that interested me was one of skeleton keys. I actually have some of these myself as wall decor just because I think they are shapely and unique.

Usually my favorite displays were the quilts but I was a bit disappointed in their presentation this year. Rather than each quilt being spread out to view in its entirety, many were gathered on large hoops placed very close next to each other. I felt the hard work of the quilter was not given adequate opportunity to be admired. See what I mean? I really need to write the fair organizers and point this out to them.

The theme of the fair this year was "Rockin' the Red, White, and Blue". I enjoyed the little tri-colored cameos throughout. I found this bike, nestled behind a white picket fence with lighted backdrop, to be very patriotic.

This fancy stage for a cooking show presentation with the shiny hood of a bright red car fit in with the theme as well.

I liked these simple chairs, painted and reupholstered with star-spangled plaid fabric. They were scattered about the area for an audience to sit in while watching the cooking demo or for a foot-weary fair-goer perch on and rest for a bit.

We never visited the vendor booths where sales folk were hawking their wares but we really were not in the mood to buy anything. Chalk it up to having been to quite a few antique street fairs of late. No need to shop til we drop. Examining our mental check list ...

Animals? √ 

Food? √

Trains? √

Quilts? √ 

Hobbies? √

Landscapes? √ 

Ambience? √

We left after about five hours, content with what we had seen and done. The fair will return for us to visit again next summer.