'Land of Awes' was simply awe-mazing

The Land of Awes theme was greeted with a blizzard of ahhs as this year’s county fair overcame bad weather to put on one of the best shows in recent memory.

Kudos to Rhonda Livingstone, the Bonner County Fair Board and the many judges, participants and spectators for reminding everyone what a county fair should be.

Let’s start with the main exhibition hall. Whether it was the tornado in the middle of the hall or the care that went into organizing the booths, this year was second to none.

Many people commented about how organized the exhibit hall was and that there was plenty of room for displays and room enough for people to stop and look without getting run over.

Getting run over was the theme at Saturday’s demolition derby. A smashing success be all measure.

It seemed like there were more project animals on display this year and what we saw was impressive. Each child had to include a ledger on how much the animal cost them, what the animal ate, how much it weighed and anything else unique about the year or two each of the youngsters cared for their animals.

A person couldn’t help but laugh at some of the rabbits, chickens or geese on display. A person couldn’t help but be impressed that these children were so dedicated to their animals and kept such good books. Great habits to develop, to be sure.

The Bonner County Fair succeeded in its mission to bring us all together for a short time. It was a great couple of days to catch up with neighbors and friends and to even learn a few things.

Unique touches were everywhere.

This year we decided to “do the fair” and spent more time there then we have in the past few years.

We came away pleased knowing that Bonner County’s country roots are alive and well and that under Rhonda’s hard work and fertile imagination and a fair board that gets it, our county fair is thriving.

Now if you could just get on top of the weather …

David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.