For fair participants - from livestock exhibitors to flower ladies to carnival ride operators - only the night before Christmas holds more anticipation than the night before opening day of the Washington County Fair.
"It's my first year here, and it's real exciting," said Erin Hague, 8, of Churchtown. "I like the (french) fries."
In their pen, nonchalantly munching on their own snack, her two market lambs, Snickers and Reese's Cup, didn't seem to share her excitement Friday.
Hague's parents, Eric and Erica Hague, hope to gently help their youngster through the expected pangs of letting go when her pair of lambs are auctioned Tuesday.
Let's just say they won't be going home.
"She's a first-timer at this. We don't know how she'll take it, but she did take a pig to Waterford and did fine," Eric Hague said. "It's part of what most all kids with animal projects go through at first. She'll do fine."
Abuzz with activity
Although the fair officially starts Saturday, by late afternoon Friday, there wasn't a square inch of space on the fairgrounds that wasn't active and bustling. Farm trucks pulling trailers of livestock jammed the fair entrance. Every barn and building was surrounded by new arrivals. Concession owners gave final spit and polish to food and game booths.
"It's not as crazy as it could be," said Newport Township resident Jeremy Barth, a Newport Township resident and fair board member eight years.
Barth, behind the wheel of a golf cart, zipped from one end of the fairgrounds to the other, solving problems, delivering requested items and putting out fires.
"The weather's going to be good - we hope - and there's nothing real exciting happening yet, but it's only Friday," he said.
Empty carnival rides, bright and shiny from polishing, spun and bounced in countless trial runs, over and over again as operators completed last-minute checks and maintenance.
On the lamb
Josie Cox, 17, and her brother, Joel, 15, of Lower Salem, struggled to beat the clock Friday to get their four market lambs weighed in before the 5 p.m. deadline.
The 7-month-old lambs are required to weigh between 100 and 135 pounds in order to qualify for the showmanship competition Saturday and the market lamb sale Tuesday.
Josie Cox was calm and confident. It isn't her first time around the barns.
"We weighed them already and they are fine," she said. "We even have a spare (lamb) we left at home. We know we won't need it."
Their mother, Darla Cox, hurried to help get the pickup truck unloaded and deliver necessary paperwork to officials inside the multipurpose building where larger livestock is housed during the fair.
Arranging flowers
On the opposite side of the busy fairgrounds, Ruth Stewart, a member of the Muskingum Garden Club, put finishing touches on an arrangement of a handful of spider mums and magnolia leaves, artistically placed on a free-flowing circular metal sculpture.
Meanwhile, inside the Flower and Merchants Hall, other garden club members worked to place close to 300 exhibits of plants and flowers inside the hall.
"This flower show is one of the best around," Stewart said. "People come from all over to see it."
Exhibits arrived Friday for judging at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Flowers, after all, are fleeting.
"I love it," Stewart said of the flower show. "I don't get out to much else at the fair. Surprisingly, I have won a blue ribbon from time to time."
Longtime flower arranger and Little Hocking Garden Club member Suzy Taggart said she enjoys almost everything at the Washington County Fair, from flowers to funnel cakes. She seldom misses the entertainment and likes to visit the animal exhibits too.
"There is a lot to do here at the flower show," Taggart said. "We work until dark Friday then get up early Saturday morning and spend most of the day here in the building."
Fair rookies
Brothers Bruce and Steve Farra of Parkersburg watched all the activities with interest. It is their first time with a display at the fair, and for Steve Farra, there were already surprises Friday.
"It's been years and years since I've been over for this fair," Steve Farra said. "I heard somewhere it was getting really small, but I'm surprised. It's pretty doggone big. There is stuff going on all over the place. If the fair is anything like this afternoon, it will be huge."
The brothers are custom welders, owners of Farra's Welding & Custom Steel of Parkersburg. They fashion any type of ironwork, lawn and garden ornaments and art, but specialize in colorful steel targets for shooting.
"We did the Belpre Homecoming and they begged us to come up here for the fair," Bruce Farra said. "I'm glad we did. It's good exposure. We've been working on this display nights and weekends for more than two weeks."
