Who judges all that fudge?

Once again the state’s only free fair was a success as the 54th installment of the Warren County A&L Fair only continued its rich tradition of community and fun thanks to countless volunteers who work behind the scenes year in and year out.

For some folks, when you mention the fair, rides like the Ferris wheel and Himalaya come to mind. They think of cotton candy, stuffed animals and those little goldfish you can win, or maybe the lights of the rides on the midway on a Saturday night.

While these are all what goes into making the fair a well-rounded success, especially in providing amusement for the younger folks (and some of us more daring older folks too), you should remember the rides on the midway and carnival entertainment leave town when the lights go down Saturday evening.

However, the backbone of the fair is what lies outside the midway and remains unnoticed by some people who have traditionally been drawn only to the carnival rides and food booths.

The backbone of the annual exhibition, held the second full week of September, is the fair’s exhibits and competitions. I, like many of you, have overlooked this backbone for many years, too busy seeing the other sights, talking to folks I haven’t seen in years and eating cobbler, to take a stroll inside the buildings of the fair.

This year was different as I took the time Wednesday to walk through the exhibits. While I knew from the fair book that there were scores of competitions, the sheer number of exhibits was overwhelming. There are literally buildings chockfull of food, crafts, food, pictures, food, art, food and more food.

Yes, the food is what is really overwhelming. You have jams, pickles, fudge, biscuits, cakes, pies, cobblers, every food known to man, all judged and on display. My first question in looking at this seemingly endless string of displays is how all of these entries can be judged. Even if a judge just takes a taste of every piece of fudge in the fudge competition, it would seem like they’d be full of fudge by the end of the judging. And, if you are tasting 20 angel food cakes, wouldn’t they begin to run together by the end?

As I was looking at all the entries, it occurred to me that all these guys looking for wives in bars and through online dating services have it all wrong. The best way would be to check out the entries in the cooking contests since you have the best cooks in all Warren County on display. After all, the way to a man’s heart is through his belly.

In addition to the cooked food, you have the produce, like watermelons, pumpkins, turnips and about anything you can pull from the ground or out of a tree. These too are judged and put on display, meaning you have numerous judges volunteer their time to judge these entries and other people to display the winners and then breakdown the displays after the fair. And I ain’t even getting into the many buildings where animals are displayed for competition.

It is these exhibits which make it a county fair, something that was around long before carnival rides. And, it is these exhibits, often far away from the bright midway lights, which make the Warren County A&L Fair the best fair in the state every year, that, and it’s dedicated volunteers.

Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].