July28, 2008. Chevy Chase, Md. Bedford Fair.

It takes all day, but all the animals are sold at auction. The good folks who work at the auction are volunteers. They deserve a gold star in heaven. The farm kids look after their animals through the year. They feed them and groom them and love them. Then, at the fair, their animals are sold, and the money goes right to the kids. The kids are all members of the FFA or the 4H Clubs, which meet once a month. The rest of the folks in the community come to buy the animals to eat, or to donate to a charity, or to give to the local butcher who will pay 85 cents per pound. So when I pay $1.30 per pound, I am really giving $1.30 less 85 cents from the butcher, even tho the child gets the full $1.30. We bought a full steer, raised by Erin Jay, and it will go straight to our freezer, of course after Alan butchers the steer and wraps the meat for us. It really is a huge show of support for the young folks of the community, from the older folks of the community. Both Kelley and Jay won top awards at the judging held on Wednesday, and I bid on their animals, but they sold for too much money. It is so interesting to watch the children show their animals in the ring. All three children were wearing new spiffy clothes and smiling to everyone in sight. They were so p[leased to be there. And their money will go straight into their college fund.

First were the goats, then the pigs, then finally the steers. I was not really interested in anything but the steers, but I watched part of the pig auction. One auctioneer was on duty all day, along with three young men watching the crowd to spot the bidders. They watched the crowd very carefully in their section, and if anyone bid, they yelled the number to the auctioneer. They were having fun themselves, and also with the crowd. I noticed that these three men often talked to each other. I discovered that these three were in a friendly competition, to see whose section won the most number of sales. There was great joshing to each other about how far ahead one section was to the others. Then they rotated to another section. It was fascinating to observe, that in a totally volunteer operation, these three men made it into a competitive event, and in so doing had more fun for everyone, as well as interesting for themselves. The competitive instinct seems to be bred in the bone.