Fun 2005

None but the brave deserves the fair, said English poet John Dryden. Taking "brave" in one of its oldest meanings, "making a fine, bright show or display," the exuberant throng at the New Jersey State Fair and Sussex County Farm and Horse Show was brave with color and joy, and they certainly deserved the fair they got. Miss Sparta 2005 Elizabeth Convey, top right, represented the township in the Queen of the Fair contest held on Saturday night. Even the farm animals appeared to be in good spirits in their freshly hayed, airy stalls, cooled by enormous fans. The few bleating sheep and goats seemed to be editorializing rather than complaining, and none of the drowsy pigs or cows had anything to say. A few roosters crowed and chickens cackled, but the rabbits were stoically silent. Powerful aromas of funnel cakes, hot dogs, cotton candy and fresh pretzels pervaded the air, blending with the more subtle scents of hay and clean animals. Spinning carnival rides whooshed through the air, with their burden of screaming passengers adding to the friendly din of shooting galleries, rock music and mommentarily lost children summoning their parents. The model milking shed drew a crowd of astonished children, some of whom never had considered the origin of milk, as evidenced by one girl, who was overheard saying: "My Mom would never get milk from cows. She gets our milk in box from the store." "The Sussex County Fair is what a county fair ought to be," said John DeFeo. "Farm animals, tractors, performing pigs, and carnival rides n what more could anyone want." DeFeo decried the glossy modern fairs he has seen in other counties. "They don't satisfy," he said. Photos by John Sanders