The Sandwich Fair

Last Thursday, we all went to the Sandwich Fair. The Sandwich Fair has nothing to do with sandwiches. It is, in fact, the DeKalb County Fair, which is held in Sandwich, IL. The first fair was in 1888. At the time, Sandwich was an up-and-coming town. The Sandwich Manufacturing Company made agricultural implements that were shipped internationally. In the present day, if Sandwich isn’t the end of the Earth, you can see it from there. Because the region is still primarily agricultural, and the original purpose of a county fair was to show of agricultural products, the Sandwich Fair has stayed true to its mission.

Jane proposed the trip because Fay’s Barbeque was going to be there. Fay’s used to do all sorts of fundraisers but has cut back in recent years. The Sandwich Fair is one of the last events they go to. I needed to get my annual corndog. We skipped the McHenry County Fair due to insufferably hot weather. We picked Thursday to go because it was Senior Day, and everyone over 55 got in for $6 instead of the usual $10 for adults. My first senior discount!

On the drive down, Jane said she’d never had a corndog.

“How can you use those words together in a sentence?” I asked. Never had a corndog? Seriously?

I was starving by the time we got to the fair, but we passed several corndog vendors before selecting one. You have to be particular about where you get your corndog. A corndog absolutely much be dipped and fried on site. Watch out for the vendors who get their corndogs premade from a freezer. Finally, I saw some naked hotdogs on sticks behind one of the counters. The problem was that they only made foot-long corndogs. Well. Quality was more important than quantity. Terry got an Italian sausage sandwich. Hilda, Jane, and I got corndogs. They were delicious, but way too much. I had to throw away the last bit, and still I should have stopped sooner.

Hilda and I with our corndogs

Terry went off on his own after that. The rest of us headed to the Home Arts building to see a culinary competition. Just outside Home Arts, a mariachi band was playing. I love a mariachi band. They played a familiar melody, and one of the band members gestured to encourage us to sing along. I looked behind me and saw that there were some people in the audience who knew the Spanish lyrics and were singing. I did not join in. The only lyrics I knew were “Aye, yi, yi, yi, I am the Frito Bandito,” and that seemed culturally insensitive.

Mariachi band

The official Sandwich Fair souvenir stand was also by Home Arts. Jane bought a nice embroidered hat because she had forgotten to bring one.

Jane's new hat

This food stand was also near Home Arts. I thought I’d seen every possible food on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair a few years back, but this was a new one. Cookie dough on a stick has zero appeal to me. Ewww.

Cookie dough on a stick? No thanks.

The Home Arts building was crammed with quilts, clothing, and crocheted items on one side, and all manner of cookies, breads, cakes, and canned goods on the other.

Quilts and clothing in the Home Arts building

The culinary competition judging was going on at the stage around back. The judges were tasting briskets. It was very boring, but after one woman stopped yapping, another woman played the hammered dulcimer. We sat down to listen for a while.

We wanted to see the poultry and went there next. We marveled at how big some of the roosters were as well as how small the bantams were. Two bantams were for sale, $10 each. Hilda wanted to buy them because they were so cute. I didn’t think she should. The other chickens would probably harass them, and besides, did she want to carry them on her lap on the way home?

In addition to the corndog, Hilda had her heart set on a bucket of French fries. We found a vendor with boxes of Idaho potatoes behind the stand. When she saw what was available, she wanted the bacon cheese fries. I should have warned her. She thought the fries would be covered with grated Vermont cheddar and topped with recognizable pieces of bacon. In fact, the fries were covered with Cheez Whiz, and not even genuine Cheez Whiz, but a cheap imitation. I thought the bacon bits were some kind of meat product rather than salt-and-soybean Bacos, but it sure wasn’t Nueske’s. Did we eat them anyway? Yes, we did. The fries had good potato flavor.

Hilda and her bacon cheese fries

We met our friend Jan and her sister, Pat. They grew up in Somonauk, about 3 miles from Sandwich. Pat still lives there; Jan had driven down from Chicago. We sat in the shade for a bit to catch up. One of the best things about the Sandwich Fair is the mature trees on the fairgrounds. The good people of Sandwich protect the trees by putting lawns and benches around them as “Shaded Rest Areas.” Foot traffic does not compact the soil like cars do.

Jan and Pat’s family uses the fairgrounds for family reunions. “It’s amazing,” Jan told us. “This place looks so small when it’s empty but so big when the fair is here.”

According to the Sandwich Fair website, the fairgrounds is only 20 acres, which is smaller than our farm.

We went together to the Sandwich Fair History Museum, which was located on the fairgrounds in a building from 1892 that originally housed the Secretary’s Office. Jan explained that every year, souvenir items, such as coffee cups, were sold at the fair. Many of these items were on display. Several of her cousins served on various Fair committees over the years.

Our next stop was the train. “You should go,” Jan said. “It’s famous.”

While Hilda and I were looking for the ticket booth, we met Terry. The three of us rode the train together.

Hilda and Terry on the train

Jane's picture of us on the train

The train is a one-quarter scale replica of a “Class S-4 Hudson Type 4-6-4 Burlington Series 3000 engine” built by Augie Otto in Sandwich. The train debuted at the 1974 Sandwich Fair. “Both Bell and Whistle Tones are Authentic,” it said on the sign.

The train engine

We went to the the Antique Farm Equipment and Antique Trucks and Tractors displays next. One of the more fascinating pieces of equipment was a machine hooked to a two-man lumber saw. It was working when I first walked up, but it broke down before I could get a picture.

This display shows ice cream scoops from 1878 through the present.

Ice cream scoops through time

Terry liked this antique truck.

Antique truck

Jane took this picture of Jan’s grandfather’s tractor.

Jan's grandfather's tractor

We got four Fay’s dinners to go at the end of our day at the fair. There was enough food for two days in there. I also bought two bags of mini-donuts on the way out. Our fair food was complete.