Life lessons at the fair

You can learn a lot at county fairs if you just sit back, watch and contemplate.

Friday morning on my drive to Basin for the Big Horn County beef show I was contemplating what to write for this week’s column and my mind was full of several topics, including county fairs.

We’ve been busy this week covering all three fairs. I have covered horse shows, a rabbit show, swine show, flower show and beef show. As I think back on these shows and the judges’ comments there are some life lessons that can be learned.

—Hard work is rewarded. When watching market shows or showmanship you can tell the youth who have worked with their animals a lot and those who may not have worked as much. Those who work well with their animals are usually rewarded with purple or blue ribbons.

It’s the same with cake decorating, fabric and fashion and other 4-H, FFA and open class projects.

You, and the judges can tell the projects where the person has invested a lot of time and effort.

—Hard work doesn’t always mean top prize. While everything I said above is true, it’s also true that sometimes all the hard work and effort you put into a project can all fall apart quickly. Sometimes the alpaca is going to be stubborn; sometimes your pig in junior showmanship feels frisky from the cool morning weather and decides to run around the arena; sometimes your dog, who will listen to you every other time to lie down decides he would rather play during obedience and only partially lies down; sometimes a judge may not like your photo or your canned good or your baked good.

It’s all part of life. Sometimes you can work hard but then life happens.

But, it’s a good lesson and it builds our character in how we react when “life happens.” Do you get frustrated and quit or try harder next time and keep on keeping on.

—Punctuality. Punctuality is important. If you are late coming into the arena a judge has already had a chance to look at your competitors and already started forming opinions. One judge mentioned this to one young lady this week, noting that by coming in late she was already behind and it was hard to catch up.

Just as in life if you come in late to your job, you’re playing catch up, trying to figure what you missed. If we come late to a meeting, we don’t know what we may have missed, what decisions were made, what issues were discussed.

And just as judges don’t look kindly on you coming late to be judged, bosses don’t appreciate the lack of respect that it shows either.

—Work hard but have fun. Many youth around the Big Horn Basin put a lot of hard work into their various projects that were shown this week. Some you could tell were having a lot of fun showing their projects, whether it be animals, or metal work, or fashion.

You need to find things you enjoy doing. If you’re lucky when you find things you enjoy doing, you find that you can get paid for it, like I do. Sure some days feel more like work than others, but then there are days you get to spend at the fair taking photos of youth having fun and you find that you are having fun along with them.

Fair, just like life, brings many surprises, good and bad, but most of all fair, like life, needs to be enjoyed.

So go and have some fun …. at the fair and in life.