Finding Inspiration At Another Kind of Fair

by LuAnn Schindler
By the time you read this, I will have been away from my computer - and writing world - for nearly 36 hours. Thank you, Blogger, for letting writers / bloggers set a time for a blog post to appear.

And even though I have been away from my computer for one and a half days, I'm finding inspiration and plenty to write about while attending the State Fair. My stepson is active in 4-H and FFA and is showing a heifer from our dairy farm. Not only have I gotten several ideas for stories after watching him prepare for this experience, but I found more unique ideas before I even left home. I printed a daily schedule of events and found more than 15 possible story ideas.

Here's a small sampling:

Like cheese? We naturally do since we ship over 6,500 pounds of milk to a processor each day. But never in my life did I consider a career as a cheese sculptor. A gentleman will be sculpting something - hopefully from a block of cheddar - in the Ag Hall today from 10 A.m. - 9 P.M. Unique, right? How many other artists use mozzarella or asiago as a medium?

A craft beer and wine festival is held from noon til 11:30. My grandfather made wine (and beer and several types of liqueurs) from home and won several honors at this fair. What has changed since he won the honor for the first blue ribbon chokecherry wine 30some years ago? I intend to find out!

Kids aren't left out either! Throughout the day, kids can take part in a make-n-take craft project. What a great opportunity to take photos and put together a craft package for a kid's magazine!

Master Gardeners from around the state are offering a panel discussion. If you're into gardening and landscaping, here's a chance to network and develop story ideas.

There are cooking demos, florist demos, wild horse gentling demos, chainsaw carving demos...the possibilities are there. It's a matter of timing my route around the fairgrounds so I don't miss out on a possible article.

I hope you consider events taking place at your state's fair. You never know how many story ideas you'll walk away with.