Ulster County Fair

County Fairs are a great place to go to reflect on yourself. The promise of fried foods and carnival rides brings everyone out of the woods, and city folk and hillbillies alike, everyone has a good time. It's no place for condescension; you might have more teeth than the guy next to you, but you're all standing in the same mud, paying the same price for the same bad food. You're both waiting in the same long lines for the same dangerous rides, and paying the same high price to win the same cheap toys. The County Fair is also a great place to get in touch with the agricultural side of life. Goats, chickens, horses, and cows are all in plentiful attendance, both in the dingy food stands as well as guests of honor in the 4-H stables.

The most compelling attraction to me was the blacksmith's shop. Tucked quietly behind the BBQ Rib shack is a tiny log building with an ancient bellows and an old fashioned man with a big ol' moustache. If you manage to find him, if you have the time, he'll make something cool out of scrap metal. In fact, everything in the shop is hand made, save for the anvil (which was salvaged from the bottom of the Hudson River). There are extravagant polished ladles forged from railroad ties, elegant hooks, hinges, and handles crafted from scrap metal. Even his hammer is made from the axle of an old truck. I was informed that every blacksmith tool is handmade, and assured that the person who made the first hammer probably had a hell of a time. I don't have any video from my visit to the blacksmith's shop, but I have great memories. You should have been there, sorry.

Olde Fashioned tunes by The Zombies.