Happy Fourth of July!!

Is there any better way to celebrate the day than with a trip to the fair? 

In our case, the Marin County Fair.  Which began last Thursday, and lasts through today.  And in which we -- along with 5,000 others! --  entered a few contests.  (We reveal the results at the end of this post . . . .)

Which required everyone to bring entry forms and then entries themselves down to the fairgrounds weeks beforehand .  .  . where all entrants were greeted by this happy California cow.

Then, after weeks of waiting, THE DAYS OF THE FAIR WERE FINALLY HERE!

To Bean Up The Nose Art's way of thinking, there's hardly anything finer in life than visiting a fair.  

There are the rides.

There is the food.

There are people playing their hearts out for the sheer joy of it.

And when your county is Marin County, CA, there are these kinds of cans.

And, because George Lucas lives here, there are storm troopers patrolling the exhibit halls.

And it is those exhibit halls that are our favorite part of the fair.  The number of entrants alone -- over 5,000! -- is enough to bring tears to the eyes.  The earnestness.  The love.  The enthusiasm. 

Blows you away to see something so cool as this -- a winner IN THE FIVE TO EIGHT YEAR OLD CATEGORY!!!  Holy crap.  This kid is AWESOME.

One of the special contests of the year was kite-making.  Kites were everywhere.

The year's theme was celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge's 75th Anniversary . . . with many Golden Gate Bridge categories and entries.

 

Including this Best of Show stunner.

Back in other areas of the exhibit halls, other stunners abounded as well.  Like this amazing structure BUILT OF TOOTHPICKS. Which PING PONG BALLS travel down and through, via built-in pathways.

You can see more apparently in this shot that the theme of the piece is the city of San Francisco.

And thus includes all kinds of landmarks.  Like the Palace of Fine Arts, here. 

The Marin County Fair also typically gets great musical acts.  On Saturday night, Ozomatli was rocking the place.  
Amidst sunset and arcade lights.

Always so grateful for all the hard work that goes into putting on the fair, in all its aspects.  Thank you to everyone who works so long to make this happen.  (I'm talking to you, Ellen!!!)

And now: our entry results!  

Ta-da!!! 

Fabulous daughter Meryl won a first prize ribbon for her fabulous original tennis shoes, which she draws by hand with Sharpies.  (Yes, she is that amazing and talented and patient.)

And what about the artist at Bean Up The Nose Art?  Well, she got beat by her daughter.  That yellow is for fifth place in Adult Hobby Crafts, Miscellaneous Division, Paper Art.  (We have dropped down from a second place win in 2009.  Hmmmmm.  Everyone around us is doing great work!!!!!!)  

Things on the fiction writing front were lovelier :) 

Hoping y'all are having a wonderful Fourth of July yourselves.  Leave us a comment and let us know if you've entered your fair this year!!!  There's no better way to love a fair than to play right along with it.  HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!  Be well :)