Back to the Fair!

For years, Jenny has been inviting me to go to the fair with her on Wells Fargo Day. Her company gives her free tickets to the fair and a concert at the grandstand, as well as some food tickets and bottled water. Jenny was one of my suite-mates at BVU. In the past, her sister worked for Wells Fargo, too. She would come and bring our suitemate, Kelly. That was fun, but this year Jenny and I were on our own, though I did get to see Jessy at the apartment before we left for the fairgrounds. Hi, Jessy!

We toured the sights, including several I hadn’t gotten to last time. We visited the varied industries building, which also houses the textile exhibits—quilts, tatting, crocheting, knitting and needlework. We got tons of food samples of chocolate, jam, popcorn, dips, salsa and nitro ice cream (incredibly smooth and creamy). For once it wasn’t too hot at the fair, so I had a fried Snickers bar. It was so wrong it was right! We returned to the Avenue of Breeds so Jenny could see her favorites, the llamas.

Jenny and I took our time in the Arts and Culture center. I showed Jenny my pictures. In the paiting and sculpture salon, we saw the most amazing piece. I’d actually seen it before. When Mom, Sandy and I were visiting, we heard the sound of something breaking (a piece of ceramic, perhaps). When we turned, it looked like a man had driven his head through a wall! It took us a while to realize that we were looking at a sculpture. The sound had been a (frightfully convincing) coincidence.

We almost forgot about the concert, but when we realized how late it was, we tromped down the hill. Wynona Judd was performing. She was a lot of fun. You could tell how much she loves her work. People were posing in front of the stage, and she would stand above them, posing, too. Often her poses imitated the fans’ poses. She hauled little kids on stage. She chatted with the fans. She almost encouraged them too much, because they got bolder and bolder. Eventually, she had to stop singing: “You guys are so distracting you made me forget the words!”

Later she was singing “I want to know what love is” when a fan handed her a slip of paper. She opened it and read it right then.

“Are you sure you could handle me?” He laughed, shaking his head and explaining himself.

“Well, you better get her up here, then.”

The next thing we knew, he and his girlfriend were on stage, and he asked her to marry him! “I wasn’t planning to do this now. I don’t even have a ring, but it just felt perfect. Will you marry me?” She said yes and kissed him, wrapping her legs around his waist.

Wynonna hosed them down a tad with her water bottle. “Y’all are in public, now!” She asked them to drop her a line to update her on their wedding plans and marriage. Too cute!

Wynona was the first person I saw in concert by myself. I took my friend Emily to see her perform with Clint Black in that very grandstand back in 1993 or so. Back then, she was still establishing her solo career, so she wouldn’t sing any Judds songs. Now she does, saying things like, “That’s my favorite ‘Mama’ song,” or “Mama and I used to sing that twenty years ago. Can you believe that?” Hee.

All too soon, the day had ended, but Jenny and I definitely had a nice day at the fair.