How about having our own county fair?

“The Dave’s Garden Virtual Harvest Festival: A New Tradition”?
I question whether or not “County Fair” would resonate with DG users worldwide. But, I don’t know of any part of the world that doesn’t have a harvest festival of some kind. I think most county fairs started out as harvest festivals. I know our Houston County Fair in October coincides with the peanut harvest in this area and is usually just called “the Peanut Festival Fair.”
However, I do like “Dave's Garden Pixel County Fair: A Celebration of Harvest Traditions with a Virtual Twist “ It IS a mouthful, but it has a nice flow.

In our area, we have allot of harvest festivals as well. The Gilroy Garlic Festival, the Artichoke Festival, the Strawberry Festival. But none of those have the traditional competition categories that a county or state fair have. Which I believe was a tradition brought from Europe. And I agree, some type of harvest festival is celebrated in all cultures. A fair though, ecompasses far more than the harvest. It is also a means by which allot of trade used to be done. Skilled artisans and crafters showed off their abilities with the goods they brought to trade.

This sounds like fun. Count me in.

Maybe a catagory for Quilts??

Maybe someone could write an article on the history of the county fair. It's appearance in the DG newsletter could kick things off.

Excellent idea!

(did you know that there was actually a Scarborough Fair in medieval England that lasted over a month each year?)

Yes, an article on the history would be a wonderful! I think people will be surprised to learn that the "roots" to events like these go back farther than agriculture.

I thought the only profession that went back farther than agriculture was.. ahem. LOL

I do like the "wordy" title for the event,

Dave's Garden Pixel County Fair:
A Celebration of Harvest Traditions with a Virtual Twist

Me too, Crit

Ha, ha! Harvesting and preserving was going on for eons before agriculture. And traveling to centralized areas to trade was the highlight of the year for many cultures even back then. And vital too. Salt, for example, was one of the original currencies. Thus, "The man was worth his salt." We can't live without it. So many inland peoples had to trade for it.

Yeah, and now 'they' tell us we use too much of it, lol.

oooo I like the Pixel Harvest Festival with a twist too. 'Twist and Sprout' could be the Festival theme song ^_^ mi mi mi

♫Well, shake it up, baby, now, (shake it up, baby)
Twist and sprout. (twist and sprout)
Cmon cmon, cmon, cmon, baby, now, (come on baby)
Come on and grow it on out. (grow it on out) ... ♫

There could be a verse for all the different types of entries.

I like the way you think, Dahlia!

(Wonder what that says about me, LOL)

ROFL, I LOVE IT!!

Maybe a change for the first line.....
♫Well, stake it up, baby, now, (stake it up, baby)

stakes for tomatoes, picabo?

Well, stake it up, baby, now, (stake it up, baby)
Compost & mulch! (compost & mulch)
C'mon we need some tomatoes, now (need us some 'maters)
Let's go, pump 'em on out

LOL, too funny! And really very good, too!

LOL

OK, there's a baked goods category, so somebody needs to come up with a verse for it. First line:

Well, bake it up, baby, now (bake it up, baby)

How about the livestock? My pigs are very excited, when they're awake that is.

Well, oink it up, baby, now (oink it up baby)...

Lisa, I'll let you take it from there! LOL

You've given me visions of dancing, squealing piggies! *shaking head* Too much!

Oh God I wasn't volunteering I swear. I do have a feral pig that is so fat you can hear his belly rub against his legs when he walks and man can he snore. But between the horses, pigs, goats, donkeys, steer, and various fowl I believe with LOTS of help we can come up with something.

Well, oink it up, baby, now (oink it up baby)
Neigh and moo (neigh and moooo)
Old McDonald is having a party (a virtual party)
You're invited, too! (c'mon join in the zoo)

(see what you started, Dahlia?)

I like that.

Perfect, LOL!

Such talent! A happy way to start the day. Nice jingles!

Yes, what a nice start to my morning!

(official theme song...)

Love this idea! Who is going to make all the recipes for the baked goods and judge them?

LOL. What the hey! We can all gain a few more pounds together! :-)

I'm LUVING how this is all coming together! I will keep track of our theme song verses. Where are the quilters? YoYo? Methinks we need a verse for the quilts and one for canned goods for sure.

(Waving hand madly in the air) I volunteer to taste everything ^_^ Truely I would not be a fair judge of baked goods cuz my elevation can make some things turn out wonky sigh.

Yes, canned goods for sure! I am Celiac and won't be able to enjoy any baked goods. But I sure am big on all fruits, nuts, herbs, and veggies! A good homemade spagetti sauce goes great over a plate of steaming sting beans and chicken :-)
Wonderful theme songs happening here!
Where are all the veggie people? We need a song too!

Can we judge pictures of the Veggies, canned goods??

Lumping all livestock together doesn't work for me. I don't think one can fairly judge beef cattle and dairy cattle together, much less pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, etc. all together. Horses? Not with meat or milk animals surely.

This is a pretty informal sort of fair... it'll get unwieldy if we end up with 100 categories (easy to do; I think sometimes there might be 100 subcategories for prizes in some areas at a "real" fair, given the number of different ribbons I see). I see it more as a way for us to share our excitement about our animals, our gardens, etc. As with the photo contest, the judging won't be a professional thing with set criteria.

If we group all livestock together and then have what amounts to a popular vote for "prettiest," for example, I'll pick my favorite "pretty" critter, whether it's a milk cow or an alpaca.

Same thing with the "arts and crafts" category. If we add lots of subcategories, it gets complicated quickly. So if your favorite thing is woodworking, or quilts, vote for your favorite piece submitted for that category.

One year, the photo contest had a zillion categories and sub-categories... that was fun, but when we limited categories so that all the first-place winners would have a spot on the calender, I think that simplified things a lot. I don't know if we'll have a "DG Fair" calendar (might be fun!), but I think Terry has a similar goal of trying to keep this simple.

I don't have LIVESTOCK I have large pets, in the shape of livestock. LOL

You gotta have horses.
And a "biggest" vegetable contest.
Count me in!

Oooo, pretty horsie!!

I am in for the Chicken side of things ... and Not the kind your gona eat ...LOL

Sarge

Mistletoe and Holly would like to come to the Fair.

Passiflora - that is a gorgeous horse! and Mekos, beautiful kids as well .. how would one choose???