Saanich Fall Fair

Last weekend Ben and I went to the Saanich fall fair, over on Vancouver Island. Their fair is much bigger than the Pender fair, but much smaller than the Sonoma County fairs that I'm used to from California. Really, it was just right for a few hours of fair fun. Plus, the weather was great, unlike last year, when we spent a couple of very soggy hours looking at smelly animals in the pouring rain.

We wandered through the food stands and rides first thing, but didn't really stop. Not our scene this year. We did go look at one of the buildings, and admired photos and paintings by local artists. There is a bird room in that building too, so we took a quick look.

We found two cages, right next to each other, with signs on top telling about the birds, Ben and Alice.

Bwahahahhaaaa!!!

We thought this was hilarious! We have cockatiels, and Ben's sisters name is Alice. Too funny! (sorry, I'm easily amused!) Um, OK, lets move on from that embarrassing moment...

Next we went through the veg and flower building. Lots of pretty stuff in there! Check out this massive cabbage! Crazy! (kind of like my expression here. Who knows what I was thinking.)

More prettiness...and too many pictures. Sorry. (not really)

I love the fair! Check out the size of these berries! That's my finger next to them!

I also love this pic of apples. It feels so Fall-y!

The food building had some great looking baked goods. I especially loved these cupcakes. What a cute idea!

Upstairs they were doing a bee presentation, and were talking about honey. These are terrible pics, I know! Who uses a flash when photographing through glass?! Oh wait, me. *blush* It was pretty interesting though.

We watched a bit of the horse vaulting show while stuffing our faces with mini doughnuts, and strolled through the animal areas. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of all the cute animals. I must have been too busy oohing and aahing at the fuzzy things, and licking the sugar from doughnuts off of my sticky little fingers. But I'm sure you've all seen donkeys, pigs, goats, bunnies, horses, chickens, ducks, sheep and alpacas before. No great loss. Now carrots and beets, that's another story!

Finally, we spent a good hour in my favorite section, much to Ben's dismay. The farmer's market!!! They had some GREAT stuff out for sale, and I spent way too much money.

I did come home with quite the collection of loot, however! Hurray! I got some ginormous blackberries...

red chard and kale...

red currants (no idea what to do with those, but they were so beautiful, like little jewels!)...

cherry tomatoes...

peaches and nectarines...

and some little red potatoes.

SO much great local produce!!! Although, I have to say, Ben did not greatly appreciate me spending 15 minutes photographing everything I bought while sitting on a small grassy spot in the middle of the fairgrounds with lots of gawking people watching. Heh, OK, it was a little embarrassing. But those are just the type of sacrifices that I make for you guys!

All these goodies made for a happy Rowie...

and a good snack for the way home!

What is your favorite part of the fair in your area?