If you spend all your time on the midway, riding the Avalanche and eating fried dough, it's possible to forget that this is an agricultural fair.
But most people manage to find their way to the various farm-related displays, booths and competitions that are the heart of the fair. Clyde Riggs, who was manning a display of antique farm machinery on Friday, says fairgoers are enlightened about the old days.
"It's really interesting to people who have never been on a farm, or know how hard they worked — they see where food comes from," said Riggs, 79, who grew up on a farm in Bahama. "I rode all that stuff when I was a kid."
Sometimes 100 people at a time roam the room looking at a welter of equipment including a 1930s-era Oliver Superior Grain Drill restored by Mark Williams and Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.
"It would be ready to go to the field right now," Troxler said Friday.
