Let's go to the fair!

Last weekend, we visited the Williamstown Fair, the oldest annual fair in Canada at 197 years young. We had a blast. Friday night we spent most of our time watching the Eastern Ontario Horse Pull. Alas, no pics, as I left my camera at home that night. But it was amazing watching these beautiful draft horses pull humungous loads. I think the pulling finished at 9,000 lbs! The horses clearly loved what they were doing and were fantastically well-muscled.

We went back Saturday and were entranced by...

...tractors! Lots of beautifully-restored antique tractors, here, there and everywhere.

Gordon had to buy a hat at the fair, as he foolishly forgot to bring one with him. He is very fair-skinned and tends to fry like bacon in the sun. So he got himself a spiffy cowboy-esque noggin-topper, and fit right in. Well, sort of. I mean, what farmer wears sandals like that?

He here is, worshipping at the New Holland shrine ...

...not that he'd buy one. He's a Kioti/Kubota sort of guy.

Ahhhh, that "new tractor" smell!

Posing with an oldie! (Other than me, that is.)

And now for something completely different. Litte Ray's Reptile Zoo was also at the fair, and I got to hold this little scorpion girl for a very long time:

She was green and African and I forget her species. Scorpions are so misunderstood! They are not going to kill you or eat your baby or whatever. This one didn't move a muscle the whole time she sat on my hand, although we did evoke some interesting looks from passers-by!

And here's a shot of one of the fair buildings in Williamstown:



After the fair, we saw an altogether freaky sight in the streets of Williamstown (note: Williamstown is extremely cute and picturesque and I unfortunately managed to take this shot in front of the one derelict building in town!)...

Yes, it's young men in dresses. What else would you expect in a tiny, rural Ontario town?

According to rumour, these three were members of a football team that lost an game the week before, and as punishment, they had to wander the streets in girly clothes during the fair. Ahem.

You can read about the area, sans transvestites, here. You can read about The Manor House, a national historic site, here. We visited the Nor'wester and Loyalist Museum, which is an excellent museum. More about that here. For eating, I really like the restaurant attached to A. L MacDonald grocery store. Or Jack's Pub.

Or you can just visit Williamstown to watch boys in dresses!