Tag: Fauquier County Virginia Activities

Pig Racing and Other Fun at the Fauquier County Fair

For those of us who live in a rural area, one of the highlights of summer is attending the local county fair. The Fauquier County fair is a fun-filled, four-day event. This year’s festivities included pig racing, dairy cow and goat shows, a chicken parade, a 4H dog demonstration, a pizza eating contest, cake walks, watermelon seed spitting and pie eating contests, lawn mower and tractor pulls, corn shucking contests, rodeo shows, an apple pie contest, horse shows, and much more.

My daughter and I had a great time riding the amusement rides, watching the events, viewing the contest entries, and eating deliciously unhealthy fair food. Here are a few pictures of our fun-filled day.

For more information on the Fauquier County Fair and the upcoming Fall Harvest Fest on Labor Day weekend, visit the Fauquier County Fair website.

Bealeton Flying Circus

(Photo courtesy of the Bealeton Flying Circus.) This weekend the Bealeton Flying Circus hosted its annual hot air balloon show. Hot air balloons cannot fly in windy conditions so balloon activities typically take place in the early morning (7:00 – 9:00 am) and late afternoon (6:00 – 8:00 pm), when the air is calm. It’s a fun and colorful event the whole family can enjoy.

This year I was able to enjoy the evening show from the comfort of my deck (my dog, Piggy, alerted me to the event with some fierce barking at the balloons passing by my kitchen window–what a good boy!) The setting sun made photographing the show a bit tricky but I thought I’d share the best of the lot with you anyway. Note the spotter planes in all the shots. Apparently they are there for safety purposes, since every balloon had a spotter plane.

Hot air balloon rides last 1-2 hours and, the last time I checked, cost ~ $400.00. I’m way too chicken to take a ride, but my sister has been wanting to try it for the last several years. I’m more than happy to photograph her taking a hot air balloon ride from the safety of the ground. For more information on the Bealeton Flying Circus, its live airshows, annual hot air balloon festival, or hot air balloon rides, visit their website at www.flyingcircusairshow.com. Here are some shots I took.

You can even see the folks in the basket in this photo!

Note the orange glow from the fire….

And the last photo taken in the setting sun. I love small town life.

%d bloggers like this: