41st Bob Evans Farm Festival, Rio Grande, Ohio

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Sunday, October 16th. Bob Evans Farm. Overcast and windy. Cleared up during the day but was still very windy with strong gusts.

Up fairly early and caught the shuttle service to the entrance to the fair on the other side of the road. We walked to the Bob Evan’s restaurant and had a big breakfast. After breakfast, we began to look at the many arts and crafts housed in colorful tents set up in rows all over the front part of the property. There were some really nice crafts, but the tents were divided such that you had to go down one side, return to the front of the tent and then go down the other side. They did not allow room to circle at the back of the tent so that traffic flowed smoother.

The festival was for the whole family with many, many activities for kids. They had a stack of hay bales piled up like a mountain that the kids were climbing, they had farm animals to pet, contests of all kinds—sack and hula hoop races, tractor pulls, etc., a corn maze only for kids, “cars” little kids rode in made of plastic drums pulled by a tractor, horse rides , face painting and crafts booth where children could make their own were just some of the things I noted. Hundred of kids and adults performed clogging and singing in groups continuously on several stages set up throughout the fair. After lunch, we watched a mounted drill team and then tractor square dancing. The dancing was lots of fun to watch and I know that the team had to put in a lot of work in order to maneuver the tires so close to each other while going around in a circle.

Walking from the outside arena, which was at one end of the grounds to where they were showing border collies working sheep, I lost my favorite shirt that I had tied around my waist. Have gone back twice to the lost and found with no luck. Darn! It was fun watching the border collies work. After herding some sheep, they herded a small flock of ducks through various apparatus like slides into a wading pool and through and around gates.

We took the shuttle back to Rosie and settled in for naps and relaxing before dinner.

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