Angel Food Cakes and Dog Hair: The Kentucky State Fair

The Kentucky State Fair began on August 15 of this year, with raucous Midway rides, eager 4-Hers, livestock, concerts, and politicians. This year marks the 115th “official” fair – the Kentucky legislature provided money for a state fair in 1902, hence the “official” tagline – but state fairs have been held in the Commonwealth since 1816. Louisville became the permanent home of the fair in 1907. Over the next few decades, some amazing structures were constructed for the state fair (until the fair moved to its current location -the Kentucky Exposition Center – in 1956. The architecture of Freedom Hall and Broadbent Arena aren’t likely to inspire anyone to fits of poetic rhapsody).

The old fairgrounds – 150 acres – were located in the southwestern corner of Louisville. Purchased in 1907, by 1908 the fair boasted some impressive architect-designed buildings.

Historical photographs (and postcard views) of the old fair grounds and their magnificent buildings are fairly stunning. The Livestock Pavilion (also called, I believe, the Horse Show building), for example, was designed by the firm Joseph & Joseph (brothers Alfred and Joseph). The brothers used the commission to found their own firm, and kept busy during the 1920s designing other eye-catching buildings for cattle and people alike.

Although fanciful architecture had given way to concrete and miles of asphalt by the time I started attending the state fair, it was still a momentous event.

Of course, the state fair was just the last occasion in a busy summer. County fairs across the Bluegrass were a family tradition – but not for cotton candy and Ferris wheels. Oh no. We were 4-H kids, you see.

I started in 4-H long before the age threshold, tagging along with my siblings, taking part in practices for the dog drill team with my very own canine, a pull-along dog toy that I am pretty sure was a hand-me-down. For the record, I called him Squirrel.

Later, I graduated to lead line on some of our placid ponies, and for a very brief time, showed by myself on top of either a hackney pony or an enormous Tennessee Walking Horse at various county fairs.

But loading up horses and pulling a trailer is a lot of work for one child, so by the time my sisters were leaving 4-H and horse shows, my option was dog shows.

I did well – Junior Showmanship is all about specific ways to do something, and acting like you knew what you were doing – I was pretty good at the last part. But one year, our 4-H agent suggested I expand my focus to other areas, in an attempt to be well-rounded and beef up my record book.

Several local fairs gave out premiums for 4-H entries, and to a farm child who didn’t get paid for chores and was too young to actually work – this seemed like a golden opportunity. I decided to try and enter EVERY category that was feasible. And I mean EVERY category.

Seduced by lucre, I went to work. The art and photography entries were easy – I already enjoyed taking pictures, and while I will never claim to be an artist, I drew a passable horse. It’s Kentucky. Drawing horses is de rigueur. I made a desk set (blotter, pencil holder, paperweight) and even sewed something (though that didn’t leave much imprint on my memory, so I can guess what the quality of that item was).

But the best part of my endeavors that summer was the angel food cake.

The cooking part of 4-H entries is highly regulated – every participant must use the same provided recipe. This prompted no end of sighs and frustration from my mother, who knew that her mother’s angel food cake recipe was superior in every way, and that this lesser recipe would only lead to failure.

She supervised my attempts, and by the third cake, she deemed that – even though it was inferior to her recipe – the product would suffice.

But what to do with the two previous cakes?

Well…I was a growing girl, and I’d been instructed since birth to not waste things – so the idea of just throwing it away (my mother’s solution) was abhorrent. So I secreted the cakes away, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and kept them in the washstand beside my bed. Every day for weeks I enjoyed as much angel food cake as my heart desired.

I always wondered why there were mice in my room.

The angel food cake hidden away in my bedroom has become the stuff of family legend – and this time of year, in the sticky August heat, my thoughts turn to cake, and chickens, and large crowds of people, and the explosion of senses that is the Kentucky State Fair.

And I start planning how we can get our barn cleaned up, and where to find a pony, and how much fun it will be to shepherd my own two children through the 4-H experience when they reach that age. But I think I will caution against entering any of the baking categories at the state fair. I’m the one who will have to deal with a mice infestation now.