Delaware State Fair

Since we couldn't attend the Huntington fair this year, we made sure to check out the DE state fair. Now. I understand that this is not the Midwest. And I understand that Delaware is a tiny place (3 counties-873,000 people). However, it is hard to not compare this fair to my home county's fair (population 38,000).

It was very weird to see all the 4-H and FFA exhibits in a state other than Indiana. There are completely different projects here, and all the requirements are quite different. There was a quite respectable building full of exhibits in areas such as crafts, cooking, photography, sewing, and other projects. Below is a picture of their photography exhibit. The one thing that bothered me was that there don't seem to be Champions in the divisions (unless I missed them). So the best you can do is a blue ribbon.

One of the exhibits I really like is the "place setting" contest.

When it came to the animals, there were probably quite a bit less than at our county fair. However there was a lot more variety. I couldn't even identify all of the various sheep and poultry breeds, and enjoyed seeing beef breeds I normally don't. Some Belted Galloways were on display, one of my favorite breeds (see picture). I was quite annoyed that of the few rabbits shown, about two dozen of them were crossbreeds, which are typically declared to be unshowable outside of a "pets" class.
Some Numbers for the JUNIOR shows

Beef & Starter Calf shows: DE: 75 Huntington: 175
Rabbits: DE:  85 Huntington:  40
Sheep: DE:  LOTS! 300-400? Huntington: 150
Swine: DE: 200 Huntington: 470
Goats: DE: 175 Huntington: 300

I didn't check the results for the poultry and dairy, but it seemed pretty similar at both fairs.