XXIV. THE COUNTY FAIR sink the night before they have to be taken to the fair. It is a procedure my wife dreads since it means an occasional bird loose in the house and water everywhere in the kitchen. However, poultry are easier to clean than sheep-it is one bird, one washer, and not quite as much soap. Eggs for judging have to be washed and some of the hard-to-get-off spots gently sanded. Putting all the eggs in the carton with their pointed ends down to make them look uniformly large and more appealing to a potential buyer is something you learn after the first time you enter eggs for judging at the fair. J uly and August are the time to prepare for the Erie County Fair. The boys’ entries for the 4-H shows and judgings have to be submitted by the 1st of August, two or three weeks before the fair opens. In some years, we manage to select, in the spring, the chickens, geese, and sheep that they want to show. This means that we can shear the chosen sheep early enough to let a good length of fleece grow before fair time. Otherwise, we don’t shear until late June or July; the animals look thinner but are easier to wash. Preparing the animals and birds for showing is a summertime family ritual and celebration. It is also a lot of hard work. A day or two before the fair starts, we wash sheep. Sheep scrubbing is usually pure slapstick. Matthew, Benjamin, assorted children of family friends, and I discuss the operation while changing into old clothes. The flock is enclosed in the sheep house, the hoses are strung out to the small pasture behind the sheep and chicken house, and a couple of economysize jugs of Ivory dishwashing liquid are opened. Jeremiah, the ram, is easy to catch. He doesn’t run away; he challenges everything that comes into the pen. It takes two or three kids to get him out to the washing area where, after a thorough soaking-of both him and us-we soap him up. Now, a dry, lanolin-greasy sheep, especially a big one, is not easy to keep a hold on, but a slick, soapy sheep of any size is a challenge of substantial proportions. Jeremiah quickly becomes greased lightning, indiscriminately escaping from, bowling over, or dragging away from the water each and all of us, as though this was a comic game. Like dogs, sheep shake water off. Unlike dogs, sheep have a thick fleece that can soak up a startlingly large amount of water. When Jeremiah shakes, he produces a flood. Once Jeremiah is finished, we are all wet, dirty, and without dignity. Washing the rest of the fair-bound animals is easy. The chickens and geese are washed in the kitchen Once the birds and eggs are in their assigned place at the poultry house, the boys’ poultry chores are done for the duration of the fair, except for the judging. The 4-H poultry judging takes most of the afternoon of the first Sunday of the fair. The judge, usually a local poultry raiser and successful participant in the local and state poultry shows, goes to each cage, identifies the owner, and discusses the features of the bird with the assembled children and a few parents. Fine points are referred to the Standard of Perfection, the definitive book (“A complete description of all recognized varieties of fowls”) published by the American Poultry Association. One of the more experienced youths in the entourage is expected to carry the book and to have it ready at the appropriate place if questions arise. On the other side of the 4-H cages, curious visitors gawk at the judge surrounded by a restless group of youngsters talking about the excellent rose comb on a Dominique rooster. The judge often asks the owner to catch and hold a bird, looking for the gentleness, firmness, and skill the child has in handling the fowl. Periodically there is a rush of activity and a rise in pitch of the cacophony when a bird escapes its owner’s grasp. The poultry house during the poultry judging is a unique classroom. Even after the sheep are in their stalls, they will need continual attention throughout the fair. Their hoofs must be trimmed and cleaned, the fleece trimmed and shaped, the udder or scrotum cleaned, and their ears