Happy Wandering

The girl above added a realistic feel to the re-enactment of a 

summer meal in a 20th century farm kitchen. She was bored with

the whole proceedings and her little sister was becoming 

irritable. Instead of  reinforcing the younger girl's

bad mood, she reached out to bring her closer, to hug her.

Meanwhile, adults gathered round the summer kitchen table

and just a few feet away at a dining room table, to give

Fair visitors some idea what farm life and meals were like,

say, in the 1940s to 1950s. 

While the scene was a representation, the food was real. 

 Regrettably, I didn't get anything but the smells

of mashed potatoes and gravy. The people in the pictures were

volunteers in the Pioneer Village area of the Indiana

State Fair. Don't go there hungry at lunch time.

Comfortractor, Agin

Yesterday, one of my missions was to take more pictures of the Comfortractor, featured in an earlier post. I went to the spot where it had been only to find it was GONE! All that was left was the patch of sunburned, matted grass on which it'd been standing. I wondered whether it had been sold, stolen or just taken away by its owner. Disappointed I went off to meet my brother and sister-in-law for lunch. Together with her sister and husband, we all enjoyed lunch and a nice visit at one of the "pork tents," then went off to visit other venues.


I went on to take pictures of the wheelwrights making a cart, then looked in on a group of blacksmiths. I happened to look up. There, in the storage shed, in all its orange gloriousness, was my beloved Comfortractor. It was hooked up to a trickle charger, possibly in preparation for the evening's tractor parade.

Of course, I took more pictures, this time of its interior.

I hope you enjoy this idiosyncratic beastie as much as I have.

How could you not?

Fiddlin' Around

Although this girl is young, her expression leaves no doubt that she is very prepared
for her turn playing in the Indiana State Fair Fiddle Contest.

I passed through the storage building at Pioneer Village on Saturday, on my way to another event, where I saw people tuning their fiddles and warming up for the annual Indiana State Fair Fiddle Contest. Behind the barn a young woman was tuning up, making sure she and her accompanist were in harmony, as inside an older man went from one entrant to another with his guitar, calmly making sure he and his charges would be in tune, as well.

As one of the entrants told me, while it is important that your fiddle
 be in tune, it's more important that the fiddler and their accompanist
be in tune with each other.

The contest is sponsored each year by Traditional Arts Indiana, an organization devoted to "expanding public awareness of Indiana's traditional practices," focusing on the artistic sensibilities as they are defined by the communities in which the artists participate. Not only does this include music, but other skills as well, such as weaving, carving, pottery, lace-making and bee-keeping, among others.

Tuning and last minute practice behind the barn

The contest was divided by age group into four classes: 11 years and under, ages 12-17, 18-59, and 60-plus. Each contestant was alloted 5 minutes in which to play 3 selections; a waltz, a hoedown, and a selection of the fiddler's choice. However, "Orange Blossom Special" and "Listen to the Mocking Bird" were not permitted to be played.

Unfortunately, the winners of this year's contest have not yet been posted, so I'm not able to say who won, but a great part of the contest is about community and learning from other players. I can tell you the audience was supportive and enjoyed listening to all the participants, because I could hear their cheers and applause pouring out of the Opry House.

Where Milk Comes From

I got to the Fairgrounds before eight this morning to take part in the State Fair "Plein Air Day" for artists. I got there just in time to see the dairy farmers as they completed their morning routine caring for their cows. At the time, this little Brown Swiss was the only cow being milked.


In fact, the dairy cattle were just being brought into the grounds for their portion of the competition and their owners had been at work for hours getting their charges in place and making them comfortable. A lot of others were being bathed and groomed. 

Only after those tasks had been completed would the humans take some time to themselves. The welfare of the animals comes first.

And even little Hope can take time for some shut-eye before starting her big day in the children's display.

Earlier this evening, as I began working on this post, a severe thunderstorm entered the area, pushing ahead of it wind gusts reported to be 50-76 miles per hour. We'd been expecting storms later, but this one hit surprisingly quick. The rain did not start until about fifteen minutes after the gusts.


A warm and happy day at the Fair turned to tragedy as one of those wind gusts tore the canopy from the top of the grandstand stage, lifted the entire stage rigging which then collapsed forward onto the crowd below, gathered tonight for an appearance by the country music group Sugarland.


People had just begun evacuating the area a few minutes before the scaffolding collapsed, bringing down speakers, the lighting system and a large video screen onto the people at the front of the stage. At this time over forty people have been reported injured, while four people are confirmed to have been killed.


Before emergency crews arrived, members of the audience rushed to the stage, many of them working as one as they attempted to lift the wreckage off the people trapped below. Others who were medical personnel in their work life stepped in to assist the injured, as other audience members followed their instructions.


My condolences to the families of the people lost and to those injured.  

Patterns, Redux

The northeast corner of the Indiana State Fairgrounds is the site of the Pioneer Village, a group of buildings from old farms that have been restored and erected on the grounds. Each year, farmers and artisans from all over the country come to the fair to display their skills and to show what farm life was like before modern conveniences, machinery and corporate farming became the norm. This site is also where the antique tractors are displayed, where wood logs are made into lumber with a steam operated mill; the audience for this work is typically shoulder to shoulder, as people watch a group of older men systematically produce a pile of evenly sized boards. 

One of the buildings is the corncrib shown in these pictures. The crib was used by farmers to store harvested corn for future use as winter feed for livestock and chickens. The dried corn would also have been the source for seed corn for planting the following year. As its golden color may indicate, it was also a farmer's stockpile; held against a time when money was short and the price of corn high, he could sell the stockpile for needed cash.

During the winter, it might be the chore for one of the children to grind the corn to feed the animals, keeping the cobs to use as livestock bedding and as fuel in their home.

Close-up view of a wire fence maker

More to come later from Pioneer Village.