Come on down to the Orange Country Fair

There's a lot more than great livestock in store for you there

 I’ve always said that fairs, whether they be state, town or county, are places that bring out the widest variety of people, rivaled probably only by Wal-Mart in this regard.
What that tends to tell me this is that whatever background someone comes from we all tend to be drawn toward similar things when it comes to fairs.
This could be many things but depending on where you go, animals seem to play a big part in a fair’s layout and have throughout history.
Obviously most of this involves livestock that play into a fair’s agricultural aspect, which again depending on where you go can be quite extensive. Although I do know a little bit about livestock and will perhaps one day write a blog about certain things pertaining to it, that it will be for another time.
But to the best of my knowledge, The Orange Country Fair as it is called, that takes place two days a year in Orange Conn. (this year Sept. 17 and 18) is the only fair in the Northeast perhaps in the U.S. that has a full tent devoted to snakes/reptiles.
I got involved with this some years back through knowing well the original proprietor of this (George “Doc” Whitney) and have since worked there for the two days that it is up, as well as providing a variety of animals to display there.
The purpose of this is education - to give the public a better understanding of the things they clearly want to see but may have mixed feelings about.
People, it seems often, don’t like to be "told" things. However many do seem to want to know things when they get the chance to ask the questions, and this is why the fair is great for such things because it allows people to enter the exhibit entirely on their own free will see things the way they want to: safely contained behind glass.
If they choose to they can ask questions about the subjects to the people staffing the exhibit - which would be me. I am equipped with the knowledge to answer questions regarding the basic and some not so basic aspects on various animals and their behavior.
As I noted at the beginning, people from various backgrounds attend fairs without fail every time they are held and I have noticed that almost everyone does walk through the reptile tent at least once.
So what does this mean? Well as I have said before in a previous blog, although people don't always think about it, most do want to do what they can to better understand the world around.
This often helps them to better understand themselves at the same time.
This is good for me as it is one great way to get my personal message to the most people.
The fair will be held September 17th and 18th and I will be there all hours on both days.
Stop by if you want to meet me personally, it’s a good time for me to chat with you a few minutes if you want to!