China Lights 2017

We decided to attend the China Lights display this year at Boerner Botantical Gardens since it was such a  beautiful display last year. China Lights kept two of the displays from 2016, but changed all the other lantern displays. This year was just as beautiful and fascinating as 2016. Below are some highlights:

The Dragon-a favorite from 2016

Elephants

Fish with bubbles

Frog-so cute

Frogs and Lily Pads

This one is Lou

This one is Mary

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Panda Village

Peacock

SeaWorld

This display is china tea cups and saucers-amazing.

Harvest Fest 2017

On Friday night, we attended Harvest Fest at State Fair Park. Our last festival of the year had hotter weather than any of those in the summer. You have to love the odd Wisconsin weather!

Harvest Fest is a nice family friendly festival that has smaller crowds and many activities geared for children. We saw a few animals, camel rides, pumpkin bowling, a very large piggy bank, make your own scarecrows, a few bands, a colorful midway, lots of food vendors, and an outdoor market.

Unlike the other expensive things at State Fair Park, Harvest Fest has free admission and a small parking charge. 

Our favorite vendor, Water Street Brewery, was there serving their famous Chicken and Waffle cone. We were in heaven. We had been looking for this the entire season long, and were delighted to find it at our last festival.

Generally, the midway is very far away from the actual State Fair, but for this festival, the midway was brought into the Fair Park. The lights were beautiful against the dark sky.

We generally are in jackets and jeans at this time of year, so shorts and tanks were just part of the great time we had.

Now, the challenge is to find fun things to get us through the winter!

Sheboygan County Fair 2017

Our last fair of the summer is in Plymouth. Although this fair is a good hour drive from our house, it is a great way to close out the 2017 season.

We love to see the girls do "horse-dancing," as I call it. The precise, choreographed moves really do mimic a dance. Sometimes, the horses wear rhinestones and ribbons. This year, we caught the end of an act.

A school-age children art exhibit was really quite impressive. The entire upstairs of what looks like it may have been an old farmhouse was covered in art work from local children.

Of course, the fair wouldn't be complete without showing the many creative entries from Sheboygan County folks hoping to win a ribbon. I always snap a few photos of things that catch my eye.

We saw lots of animals at this fair, and especially impressive was the size of the beef cattle and milkers. Cows look so much smaller when you see them from the road but up close and personal they are HUGE. It is always fun to try to get the animals to pose for a picture, though I never have too much luck with that.

We are in a bit of a food rut at this fair because we always get the walking taco. It is just that good!

Well, it was a very good season. We had excellent weather, great food, available parking, and lots of new things to see. The only real problem is the massive crowds that enjoy the fair on the day we decide to go. Maybe next year, we will try to visit on weekdays!

Walworth County Fair 2017

Today we decided to visit a county fair mid-week. What a great idea!! The lack of crowding, ample parking, and beautiful day, made the Walworth County Fair so enjoyable we didn't want to leave.

Because this was the first day of the fair, we actually got to see some of the judging. We watched the "pie ladies" cutting and tasting the pies. What a great job!! As always, it was fun to see the exhibits and get a few pictures.

The 4-H exhibits are very interesting and this county's exhibits really focused heavily on agriculture. We always learn so much from these displays.

Apples on Display

Giant Onions

Monster Cabbage

Bee Keeping

Really Cute Cake

Alfalfa Hay

Quilting Demonstration

The animals are a fair must-see. Ugly turkeys, monster rabbits, pigs, horses, sheep and goats are what makes the fair "the fair." Lou tried to engage several goats in conversation. One of the goats actually freaked out when Lou made a turkey sound. So weird!!

Baby Chicks

Mini Horse

Scary Turkey

Flemish Giant

Lou freaked this goat out!

We were more than surprised to see our favorite Ice cream Vendor, Yesteryear's Ice Cream. This year, the owner baked cherry pies to go with the amazing churned custard. We generally split entrees, but we have never, ever tried to split this wonderful dessert. It just would be too painful:)

This was soooooooooooooooooo good!

We listened to a lively polka band and enjoyed the accordion and banjo sounds. What a wonderful way to spend a late summer afternoon.

Lou with Packer Flags vendor