Post from the Past - Pinal County Fair

Pinal County Fair in Casa Grande, Az
May 3, 2012

The Pinal County Fair had a lot going for it from the start. They had a lot of rides, and games and I’m sure there were a lot of good vendors. I say “I’m sure they did” because I went up on Sunday the last day of the fair, and this particular day there was a storm that was very impressive by Arizona standards. And many of the vendors had no choice but to close early, much to their chagrin. In a state that boasts over 300+ days of sunshine, there was no sunshine that day. It was March, and it was COLD, and wet, and down-right windy.

What they did have was Nancy and her adorable bird show. She has one bird that can talk up a storm! (chuckles no pun intended) that bird knows words and can make the corresponding sound, “What’s a cat say?” “Meow” “What’s a dog say?” “Bark bark” “What’s a big dog say?” “BARK BARK” very funny. One of her parrots rides a swing upside down. She clearly loves her birds, and they love her back. I couldn’t believe she was able to fight through the storm and give us two solid shows, she was able to work between the sprinkles and we all stayed to watch, most wrapped in blankets and dancing around to stay warm, but we stayed =)

They had some monkeys that have been in movies like “Evan Almighty” and some commercials, and they were quite funny, Dagney is cute with her “hat exchange” and Azumah was impressive; they had an adorable Capuchin monkey in a diaper. LOL The hosts were so wonderful, I liked how they were just enjoying the day, even though everything started blowing away and they had to contend with a rather loud ice cream engine nearby. I liked the dog. No I am not going to give you a blow by blow of this show, you really need to see it!! I love shows where they have animals and I learn about their behaviors while watching them play.

Poor George Johnson the amazing Equal Opportunity singer, every time he tried to sing, it rained. Not kidding, he opened his mouth, started the music, poured!! You can’t sing outside like that, he had to go home early. I have heard him a few times in the past, he is AMAZING. And I would have loved to hear him this time, but what can you do when the rains try to short out your speakers?

Then Calamity Jo and her safety magic show was forced indoors because of the same storm, and even then she was moved from one side of the building to the next, not her doing, just the mad rush of people and booths trying hard to get out of the rain and stormy weather… which was actually funny to observe if I can get you to picture this. The storm let up, we all ran outside and watched a show, then a thick cloud blew overhead and rained, we all ran indoors. And this happened 3 times with all of us wanting to see the shows and not wanting to leave. Calamity did this math magic… I personally think she can read minds. And then she had my hubby take a card, tear it up, burn it to a crisp and then pull it out of a grapefruit….huh?? He had one piece of the card in his hand and it matched the missing piece from the grapefruit…. Huh??? Don’t tell me.

Then there was Greg Frisbee, who juggles, forced indoors, you just can’t throw balls anywhere when the winds want to haul them off in another direction. There was a crowd that formed indoors for his middle show, but he also had to cancel his last show. Nothing you can do about it when nature doesn’t comply, and he would have stayed indoors for his last show mind you, except that it was overtaken by a band with a lot of electronic equipment that also had to be sheltered from the storm.

In the meantime there was one of the brightest rainbows I had even seen in my life, and I tried to get a picture of it. I could see from end to end, and it glowed in the thick black clouds!!

Skip Banks was there, I had never seen his show, he drew a crowd in the middle of the street, and I was in the very front row! There was enough time between showers (typical rain in Arizona by the way, rains by the moments not by the inches) and he did his entire show. Every one of his wonderful characters cracking me up! I couldn’t believe how many costume changes he had, put me in the mind of a cross of Buster Keaton and Weird Al. Fantastic performance. He even pulled me out of the audience to dance in his show, which made me laugh a lot. We chatted with him a bit until the storm forced us back inside of the building. It was getting so cold my fingers lost feeling, but we thought we would try and weather out the storm and found ourselves chatting with Greg, Calamity Jo and Godfrey the magician while we waited and that was a lot of fun generally speaking, though I felt bad for Godfrey who couldn’t perform again because of the storm.

BTW Godfrey is a very very funny magician; if you can see him he is so crazy worth the time. Family appropriate, I know he knows real magic. I haven’t been able to prove this yet, but I am pretty positive I am right.

It was no one’s fault. Just the nature of the beast.

I tried to find coffee to warm up. I had on my gloves and a hat and coat, as did many people, and then there was this one guy running around in a tank top and shorts. Why is there always one guy like that? =)

We decided to try and stay for one more show, the Doggies of the Wild West. It was an interesting start since Gary (Rowdy) changed it up adding children?? To the show?? Calamity Jo wasn’t there and it was weird. But even he had to leave because his set was blowing away. He gathered up the doggies to safety and then gathered up his stage. I kinda didn’t mind his making it shorter, the kids looked bored, and that sucks a lot of life out of a show. IMHO.

It was a fun ride though; I hadn’t been in a fair where it was virtually flying away.

I really enjoyed myself; I got a different side of the fair this way… wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Post from the Past - Ostrich Festival in Chandler, Az.

May 1, 2012 This was my first time visiting the ostrich festival, I have to admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect, can’t say I really understood the fascination with the bird, and yet, I was eager to attend, and the questions flooded my brain…. Does one eat an ostrich? Do they really race? Is everything they sell shaped like a feather or an ostrich an egg Inquiring minds!!

When we arrived, we found the ticket line to be well marked and off to the left, the entrance was to the right and easily accessible. This matters a lot to me, first because I brought my 92 year old Grandma with me, and second I didn’t have to get stepped on trying to enter the gates. I am not fond of being a doormat. This was not the case at all, it was easy to enter and easy to navigate.

I walked around and I have to tell you I was so pleasantly surprised!! Even though I have no children of my own, I saw tons of games and rides for the kiddos, this makes me very happy as I have a lot of friends with kiddos and I like to bring to their attention things that they can do with them around the valley. They looked like so much fun!

The restrooms were plentiful and they had a washing hands station right outside of the facilities, and that matters a lot to me (things we don’t talk about but need and want daily).

Oh and you can apparently eat ostrich I did not know this. In fact a second thing I didn’t know was it is a red meat! I sincerely thought all fowl was a white meat. I didn’t try it to be honest with you, so I don’t know if it tastes like chicken or not, in fact I heard it tastes like beef. But I cannot attest to this firsthand.

They did have the best races I have ever watched, it was so funny, some had chariots, some were riding on the backs of the ostriches, and all of them went crazy running to and fro. Very funny! I rooted for the blue team, red won. No that won’t spoil next year for you =)

There were a lot of grassy areas, but eating areas not so much, let me clarify, we brought my 92 year old Grandma, eating on the ground was not a problem for me or my hubby, but she can’t get up and down like that anymore, now if she was in a wheelchair, there were a great many sidewalks and accessibility for handicappable people, but she is stubborn and loves to walk =) and for her, there were no places to eat. Yes there were a few tables, but nothing to handle the crowd… not really.

We did enjoy the reptile show, and the monkey show, and the dock dogs. Have you ever seen that? Dock dogs? These folks bring their dogs for competition, they stand on a stage/dock, and at the end there is a HUGE pool of water (this is especially important if it is hot and you want to cool down) stand at the end of the pool. The person throws the toy into the water and has their awesome doggy run and jump into the pool creating a splash that will soak you if the dog is big enough, and they measure the length of the jump for a ribbon. I had never seen this in a competition before, only at a lake for fun. I’m going to tell you right now, that some dogs can fly!!

I thought that the ostrich festival was a wonderful success. While I didn’t see any strolling performers (my favorite part of fairs and festivals), I did see a lot of shows on different stages and it was very easy to navigate for my grandma, I really love it when she walks away and still talks about what she’s seen.

I’ll be back next year for their 25th Anniversary
Ostrich Festival Chandler, AZ