FONDA - Kendra Kilcullen of Ames has looked forward to competing in the 4-H horse shows at the Fonda Fair since she was 5. But to the 13-year-old, the fair has always been bittersweet as it signals the return to school and the end of summer.
"I love the rides and seeing my friends and playing with the horses," Kilcullen said. "But it always tells me it's the end of summer."
As the fair opened on Aug. 31, a heat wave similar to temperatures the region has felt for much of summer ushered in fair attendees and as the final day of the fair approached on Sunday the fall-like air was crisp.
The heat didn't stop Rich and Norma Sheldon from bringing their 3-year-old triplets to the fair earlier in the week.
The Fonda family was enjoying their third and final day at the fairgrounds on Sunday, touring the animal exhibits.
"We're just regular fair flies," Norma Sheldon said. "We don't get out much with three boys so this is great."
Triplets Jack, John and Jake, dressed in matching but color-coded outfits, crowded around three nearly identical goats giggling as the goats stuck their noses through the fence for a handful of feed at the petting zoo and racing pigs' pen.
Melinda Grover and her 2-year-old daughter Emma, both of Amsterdam, attended the fair for the first time Sunday after family friend Krista Peterson from Fonda invited them.
"We figured we'd come out and check out the animals and go on a few rides before it was over," Peterson said as Grover and her daughter played with a duck named Lucky Lucy at the poultry and rabbits building exhibits.
"I love seeing all the little animals," Grover said.
Arlene Rambush of Northville, a member of the Circuit Spinsters of Fulton and Montgomery Counties, said she enjoys the chance to see all the livestock, vegetables and flowers local farmers bring to the fair to display but also enjoys the chance to teach people about her trade.
Rambush and the Circuit Spinsters perform demonstrations of spinning and weaving in the Creative Arts Center and have had inquiries by people interested in learning the craft throughout the fair.
On Sunday morning, she was spinning a two-ply yarn out of wool fiber.
"There are so many creative possibilities with this," she said. "There are so many different colors and different fibers like alpaca, flax and cotton."
All of the exhibits will be on display through today, the final day of the fair. Today starts with a 9 a.m. open draft horse truck-in show.
parade is scheduled for noon and is themed "Down on the Farm." A demolition derby is scheduled for 6 p.m.
For more information visit the fair's website, www.fondafair.com.
Amanda Whistle covers Montgomery County news. She can be reached at montco@leaderherald.com.
