Fair photos, day 1

Rhiannon's favorite stairs at the Western Livestock Complex.

Goat Demonstration with Broken Shovels Farm.  This was my only must see.

I can take this off my bucket list

Washing (and blow drying) Snowball (and Chocolate) for show at the Denver county fair.

Stock Show

Colorado is an interesting place.  For one reason the cowboy is not dead here.  Cowboy boots and hats can be worn without a drop of irony.  It is here that the Western National Stock Show has taken over each January for over a century.

But although the animals were interesting (the best petting zoo EVER).  But most fascinating was the realization that this subculture has been sold a lifestyle "look" just as much as any other.  I somehow expected the folks involved in ranching would be like the stoic Norwegian dairy farmers that Garrison Keillor talks about on Prairie Home Companion.

 Instead it was all glitter and perfectly manicured nails.  Plaid shirts and boots that had never seen the inside of a livestock pen.  It was new country pop music and christian rock.

It was explained to me that the stock show is like prom to the far flung ranching families, and Taylor Swift wannabes.

We'll stick with the Denver County Fair instead.