The Ohio State Fair is the first fair I remember. It was the summer of 1962, yet impressions of that day remain fresh. Except for the pig barn, I had to be dragged out of each of the buildings housing animals, especially rabbits. I had always been enamored with their sweet soulful eyes and wiggly noses, but I quickly learned the fair had so much more to discover.
In the Dairy Products Building, I marveled at the life-size cow carved out of 2,000 pounds of butter. The first butter cow was sculpted for the fair in 1903, beginning a tradition still in place today.
Vendors offered everything from peanuts to pennants