My first exhibition of anything in Florida was a set of 6 photos at the State Fair which was going on in Tampa these past two weeks. My photo of the sheep in the barn got a blue ribbon for first place, and the B&W photo of the magnolia and the color photo of the double delight rose both got red ribbons for second place. Looking forward to a premium check in the mail.
Entry was free, and as an exhibitor I got a complimentary 1 day admission. I went today with my mom; we've both been to our share of fairs and seen deep-fried everything. New to me were deep-fried pickles on a stick, steak on a stick (fortunately not deep fried), alligator eggs (wtf?), and the best discovery, elephant ears: big, thin rounds of dough deep-fried and covered in cinnamon and powdered sugar. And when I say big, I mean big- this thing was spread over 3 paper dinner plates, so probably 16 inches in diameter. Thank god I don't go to fairs often, because eating just that one is enough to clog your arteries. But you've gotta indulge in something deep fried on a stick when you're at the fair ;] I also went to the first pygmy goat show I've been to in two and a half years. The pygmies are smaller in Florida than they are in California, and they're more porportionate. I wish it were practical to drive cross-country with goats in the back of the range rover.