I have to admit...I didn't come up with that cute title. It was the theme title for the "SE Alaska State Fair" (Alaska is such a big state it needs more than one fair) that was held on July 28-31 here in Haines. I thought it was such a great title because after all, who doesn't "love a fair" ? We had a season record of 75 sites filled at the Hitch Up with many people coming in from Juneau and Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory (apparently, lots of Canadians love a fair also). Lori and I had to work (sucks) on the fairs best day, Saturday, when they had the lumberjack contest and the fisherman's contest but we had Friday off to spend there.
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| .357 String Band rocking the fair playing "streetgrass" (all strings-no drums) |
There was still a lot of great entertainment going on all day Friday.
They had some fun bands playing foot stomping bluegrass type music and a singer/songwriter contest. There was also this fire juggling/stilt-walking act straight from the "Burning man festival". Of course there was plenty of crappy fair food which we could not resist and consumed way too much of.
There was the usual state fair exhibits and contests - you know - the livestock and arts and crafts contests with their winning ribbons on display. Some of the best entertainment was the people watching. There are basically 2 types of Alaskans in Haines-the sourdoughs (hardy old timers) and the hippies (new age tree huggers). The fashions at the fair identified each type easily as you might notice in these photos (note the "Xtra tuff" boots on the one girl while the other is barefoot). The cool thing is they seem to co-exist here in the wild.
Of course there was even the ride section to stir up all the crappy fair food in the little kids and make them want to barf.
Of course the fair was not very big. You could walk through the entire fair grounds and see everything in less than an hour (and that's being generous).
One of the crowd favorites, and ours, was a 2 man band called "Hillstomp". They ended the Friday night fair by getting the whole place dancing and foot stomping (OK, the beer garden might have played a part) with their high energy Bluegrass. Check out their drum set in the photo below and you will see 5 gallon bucket drums and BBQ lid symbols. We had looked forward to the fair since the day we knew we were coming to Haines. It turned out to be everything we expected and less, and we had a great time because...
Of course there was even the ride section to stir up all the crappy fair food in the little kids and make them want to barf.
Of course the fair was not very big. You could walk through the entire fair grounds and see everything in less than an hour (and that's being generous).
There was some very talented musicians which turned out to be the highlight of the fair for us. Some had great names like "Sasquatch Prom Date".
Some, like the one-man-band "Claude Hay" (seen in the video below) came all the way from Australia.
One of the crowd favorites, and ours, was a 2 man band called "Hillstomp". They ended the Friday night fair by getting the whole place dancing and foot stomping (OK, the beer garden might have played a part) with their high energy Bluegrass. Check out their drum set in the photo below and you will see 5 gallon bucket drums and BBQ lid symbols. We had looked forward to the fair since the day we knew we were coming to Haines. It turned out to be everything we expected and less, and we had a great time because...
...everyone "loves a fair".
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| "Hillstomp" got the fair dancing with their hillbilly stomping bluegrass |
