Purebred and Homegrown

by Hokanson, Drake

• ISBN13: 9780299228248
• ISBN10: 029922824X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-02
• Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Pr

Summary

Visit Americars"s county fairs as they are vividly evoked through the images, stories, and voices of the people who make them happen-4-H kids, fair managers, pie judges, farmers and ranchers, rodeo queens, entertainers, food vendors, midway pitchmen, and assorted local characters. Illustrated throughout with stunning color photographs,Purebred and Homegrownis an affectionate and thoughtful look at the history of county fairs, and their tradition and persistence today, despite the diminished number of Americans who earn their living from agriculture. Author-photographers Drake Hokanson and Carol Kratz traveled 40,000 miles across America from Maine to Alaska, from Georgia to California, visiting ninety county fairs in thirty-five states. By day they interviewed, observed, and photographed; at night they camped among the carnies and the teens showing sheep, under the rollercoaster, and next to the chicken barn. The story they tell goes beyond the stereotype of fairs as quaint anachronisms obsessed with giant pumpkins and instead reveals the county fair as an important institution that helped define us as a nation of free-thinking, self-reliant, community-focused people. They present the nearly 200-year-old county fair as a fountainhead of American ideals and rural life, as a place of reunion, and as perhaps the most traditional of all American celebrations. Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the Public Library Association

Author Biography

Drake Hokanson is the author of the popular book Lincoln Highway: Main Street across America. He is the director of the Center for Mississippi River Studies at Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota. Carol Kratz is a physician assistant at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin. They are co-editors of America from the Air: An Aviator’s Story and live in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Fair Time

Fair Mindedness

Some Tincture of Envy at the Farmers' Holiday

Rural Felicity

From Rick-Rack to Rockets

Symbols of Increase

Fair Stories

Fair Fare

Born at the Fair

Bossing the Fair

The Show

Pride and Progress

Heritage

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

“It’s dark now, but the glare of the fair blots out any stars. Bare yellow bulbs sway in the night breeze; judges bend, intent on contestants’ breads, embroidered aprons, cucumbers, country crafts, blurry snapshots of the barn cat. All across the grounds are sad tattoos and hopeful faces, chance reunions; a 4-H chicken dinner in your stomach, cow pie on your shoe, the taste of dust, the squall of animals, farm kids and town kids, summer night air with a breath of endless possibility, of endless summer; everywhere rich icons of old rural ways, of country life; a sense of pride for the neglected agricultural center of things, a firm hold on tradition, a sense of what’s best about us all, and a sense of coming change: the county fair.” —excerpt from Purebred and Homegrown

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Excerpted from Purebred and Homegrown: America's County Fairs by Drake Hokanson, Carol Kratz
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.