Fair is filled with food and fun

(Every year, we buy one of the souvenir cedar shingles made in the old vintage area of the Dutchess County Fair)

The Dutchess County Fair is a summer tradition steeped in the Hudson Valley's farming roots.

My husband and I have been going to the fair for decades, and we always say with a bit of melancholy that it signals the end of the summer season for us.

But, wait! There's still a month left, so let's not pine it away. Going to the fair is part of the summer ritual for us and I'm sure for many others in the Hudson Valley and beyond.

The 163rd annual fair runs through Sunday at the fairgrounds on Route 9 in Rhinebeck. It's chock full of exhibits, entertainment, carnival attractions, livestock and, of course, the food.

There is an unfathomable amount of food at the fair, most of it battered and fried.

As vegetarians, our choices were more limited, but there was enough of a selection to stave off our hunger until I could get home to make a garden tomato salad, which we were both craving!

You can't go to the fair without eating something, so, we started with some freshly roasted peanuts:

They smelled so good roasting in these antique machines.



Then we had some roasted corn. I asked for just a tad of butter, otherwise they would dunk the whole ear into a vat of melted butter, which might not be such a bad thing! I added a little salt and pepper, and we were happily munching away. This young man was waiting for his next hungry customer.


It wasn't long before the fried fumes got the better of us, so we decided to give in and headed for John's Famous French Fries, where we got a large plate (not the jumbo, which comes in a doggie-sized bowl!) and slathered it in ketchup — now we were rocking!













I can see frying up some vegetables, but is it really necessary to fry Oreos, Snickers and Milky Way candy bars?


Apparently so! I did not go there, but a nice lady let me photograph the plate of fried Oreos she was about to share with her family — hang on to your heart!


I didn't have a pickle, but I was tempted. I don't know about washing a pickle down with apple cider, but, then again, why not?



Maybe a fruity lemonade would work better with a pickle.


The MozzArepas were new this year. As you can see from this colorful sign, which looks like an advertisement for a UFO, the MozzArepas are two cornbread circles that surround a slice of mozzarella and ...


.. are "grilled to perfection."

They did look enticing, but as the ketchup was dripping down my arm from the umpteenth french fry I had devoured, I opted to pass on the MozzArepas.
I was intrigued because they reminded me of the delicious La Reinitas we had when we visited my brother in Nicaragua who was in the Peace Corps back in the early 1990s. The street vendors made these in a make-shift griddle on top of a five-gallon-can burner, singing a little song about these "little queens" of a local delicacy. We used to eat them for breakfast with hot salsa, washed down by a Victoria beer. (Hey, we couldn't drink the water, so we had to drink something!)

There was a lot of love for the giant creme puffs by Taste Budds in Red Hook. I know some of my co-workers were eager to get their hands on these again. They did look good, though, covered with chocolate, or not!


There were even treats for Fido, although dogs were not allowed at the fair. Your pets would be glad to see you when you got home if you were bearing bags of these goodies!



Aside from all the food and other fun at the fair, there is the old-fashioned exhibits and vintage machines that make you feel as though you have stepped back in time. This exhibit on dessert has the old adage my mother always used to say to me, and which she really believed: " The way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

She might have had a point there: I know my husband-to-be at the time was smitten with my homemade chocolate chip cookies and the Constant Comment tea I used to serve them with back in our college days!



This nice lady in the old-fashioned kitchen was showing how women used to grind corn back in the "olden" days. Today, hand-milled corn and grains are considered trendy. The basic methods when it comes to cooking have always been the best way to go!


She probably bought her supplies from this nice gentleman, who was manning the local home goods store.


Back then, ladies just loved this lovely Poughkeepsie pottery, which was widely available and is a collector's item today.



And I don't know about you, ladies, but I am always interested in "devices for easier homemaking," even if it is a washboard.


After all that hard work, a lady could use a nap in a cozy bed like this one!


Along with all the exhibits and food, there are plenty of shopping options at the fair, including getting your hair done like a medieval lady of yore.


Once you got your hair done, you could venture over to the clothing vendors, where they have T-shirts emblazoned with mythical creatures, tigers, wolves and more.
This is definitely Fair Couture.


Then there are the horticultural displays — my favorite part of the fair! Just look at these glorious, colorful peppers that took second place. And the exhibitor took the time to craft a little sign with the various types of peppers using the illustrations from a seed catalog.


Of course, the heirloom tomatoes are my all-time favorites! Look how gorgeous these are.


There are so many varieties of tomatoes, it's mind-boggling! Wigsten Farm's display made me hunger for that tomato salad I was destined to make when I got home. Yum!


I lusted after these handsome eggplants, something I don't have a lot of luck growing in my own garden.


I have heads of cabbage, but they are not nearly as big as this bad boy that took second place.


Look at this assortment of pumpkins — you could carve a child seat out of that one in the upper left-hand corner!


I grew these Marina Di Chioggia squash one year, and they were delicious! You can tell by the first-place blue ribbon they are something special. I had gotten the seeds from Franchi. They were great in gnocchi and soup. It was nice to see them again!


There was a salivating array of garlic, including this first-place winner.



There was a category for most unusual vegetable as well, with this kooky twin squash taking the top prize. (Doesn't that red potato look like a heart? And isn't that a tomato duckie?!)


There were big sunflowers, too, (although I have some multi-heads that are at least 12 feet tall) and an assortment of flowers that would make any passionate gardener drool.

After all that sight-seeing, I started to feel hungry again, and had one thing in mind:


SOME FRIED DOUGH FOR DESSERT!

( I kind of felt like that crazy lady looks in the sign at this point in the fair ....)


Actually, I had some zeppole, that were scrumptious with a little powdered sugar and cinnamon.

And after all that fun and adventure and feeding at the fair, my mate and I hopped onto our antique Harley and headed off into the sunset ... until next year — see you at the fair!


... (We can dream, can't we?)

For more about the Dutchess County Fair, brought to you in stories, photographs and videos, visit the Poughkeepsie Journal online.