2006 Wilson County (TN) Fair

I went to the Wilson County Fair one week after the Williamson Co. Fair. Each fair had things it was better at. The Wilson County Fair had a bigger Midway with more rides (which meant shorter lines) as well as more animals. On the other hand, I think the Williamson Co. Fair had better entertainment. Click on any of the following pictures to enlarge.

This fair had more rides Including three Ferris Wheels. I have a blurred shot and a still shot of each:







In that last Ferris wheel, I got an unusual look. It had chaser lights that worked from the inside to the outside, and looked perfect in the first view, but I was never able to repeat the effect from a better vantage point.

Here is the Wave Swinger (similar to the Tennessee Waltz for you Opryland fans). In the blurred shot, you can barely see the blurred bodies swing by. (The Zipper is in the background.)



Apparently, a long exposure shot of a carousel causes all of the riders and wooden animals they sit on to disappear.



There were plenty of kiddie rides, such as the dragon coaster on the left. On the right, a young girl walks across an enclosed swinging bridge.



There were nightly fireworks, which nobody around me stopped to watch. But that's ok since they really weren't worth stopping to see. They shot of 1 or 2 at a time for about 10 minutes. This photo was not a grand finale, just a 15 second exposure.



The pig races seem to be from the same group that was at the Williamson County Fair. There were five races: Pigs, goats, young pigs, ducks and pot-bellied pigs.



The people from 4H had a booth and a pig of their own:



The Circle C people, in addition to the Pig Races sponsored the petting zoo:



The Kangaroo was behind a second fence and could not be petted. They also had a zebra and a porcupine like this. You could pet goats and alpacas.

These next three were in the Rabbit barn. The first was a "long-eared rabbit" whose ears rested on the bottom of the cage.



Connected to the Rabbit barn was the poultry barn which also included ducks, geese, turkeys and a colorful pheasant



In the Frontier Village, which is a permanent display of old buildings, is "Horse-made Ice Cream." This was one of the horses which was at rest at the time I took this picture.



When I went past the livestock arena, goats were being judged. They know how to sleep cute.



Finally, the blue ribbon potato was the biggest I had ever seen:

The Next Time You Are Pulled Over for Speeding...

Be thankful you weren't pulled over by this:

Starting a Second Blog: See Rock City Barns

All of my pictures and thoughts on See Rock City and other advertising barns is now moving to a second blog. If this kind of thing interests you, check it out.

Here is the link.

2006 Williamson County (TN) Fair

The following are photos that I took at the Williamson County Fair, just south of Franklin, TN. Click on any photo to see a larger version.

We'll start with a couple of rides. The "Seattle Wheel" is a historic Ferris Wheel and is over 90 feet tall. It was built for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, and if you have ever seen any video of that fair, you have likely seen this before. The Williamson County Fair rides are owned and operated by Drew Expositions.



This next ride was the Cyclops. MariLynn is easily visible in this photo.



It wouldn't be a midway without carnival food.



This Antique Band Organ was built in 1892 in Germany by Ruth Organs. Early in the 20th century, it was converted to play automatically by the Wurlitzer company. In addition to the organ, it plays chimes, bells, bass and snare drums, wood block, triangle, cymbal, timpani and crash cymbal.



There were a few shows that were included with the price of admittance. David "Cannonball" Smith has done this over 3 decades, and did it again at the 2006 Williamson County Fair. He landed safely, so he can do it again at the next fair or show. :) His website is humancannonball.us



The "Rocketown Demo" was stunts on Skateboard and bike by local kids that like to do that kind of thing. The bike stunts were good/ These two photos were in a high jump contest.



I wasn't expecting to stop at the bluegrass contest, but these seven young girls were talented. They are all from the same family.



A common sight at fairs are the Pig and the goat races.



Another good animal show was the Frisbee Catching dogs, known as Xtreme K-9s. The Long-jumping Canine also caught a Frisbee tossed by the guy on the left, while sailing over the volunteer from the audience.



No Fair would be complete without a petting zoo and show animals. These two Alpacas were from a local dealer.



Next we have a horse and a sheep.



Finally, the Rabbits. It was a hot day, but the one on the left had the best seat in the house: right next to the fan.



If you feel sad you missed it, you can go to the Wilson County Fair in Lebanon and the TN state fair in Nashville over the next few weeks.