Alva Review-Courier -

Last week, I enjoyed a couple of brief trips to take photos at the Woods County Fair. It’s good to see that the fair is bouncing back after the pandemic. Many events, organizations and churches have found their numbers decreased and slow to build up again after lockdowns, masks and other precautions.

The Alfalfa County Fair was also last week. I didn’t make it that far away from the office, but one of our staff helps with their judging.

As always, I’m impressed by the level of talent displayed in the exhibits. I read somewhere that a large percentage of people end up working in a field related to interests from their teen years. It’s good that so many of our students are exposed to programs such as 4-H and FFA to encourage them to develop their skills.

My teen exposure was books, lots and lots of books, as well as working at my parents’ newspaper. I still use many of the basic skills I learned then, even some algebra. I managed to avoid newspapers for a short time as an adult, but I soon found myself working on the Newsgram and then the Alva Review-Courier.

In several conversations about the county fair, I’ve heard people reminisce about the fairs of 20 or 30 years ago. The merchants building was always packed with business booths giving away free stuff and holding drawings. There seem to be fewer booths, although I certainly enjoy that the building is now air conditioned.

Another thing people miss is the carnival. That went away when state auditors informed the county commissioners that they cannot pay for entertainment out of the county budget. Many people don’t realize it, but things like the inflatables and contests like the chili cook off are funded by private individuals, businesses or organizations.

Nowadays, my favorite part of the fair is looking to see if I know the people whose exhibits won ribbons. I spotted a canning jar of what appeared to be pickled beets by Jean Sneary with a judge’s comment of “Perfect!” Dr. Janet Cunningham, who retired as NWOSU president mid-year, won two purple outstanding exhibit ribbons for her large beautiful cross stitch art. One ribbon was in the OHCE division and the other was overall. The amazing Lego rendition of the Avatar movie also won an outstanding ribbon although I didn’t locate the name of the builder.

I managed to secure two slices of OHCE pie, but I didn’t get to sample the menu at the fair kitchen. This year Bull Smokehouse and Saloon along with Vanilla Bean provided an extensive menu. I heard it was so good they ran out of some items. All in all, the fair was fine entertainment.

Now Alva is gearing up for probably the biggest event of the year, the 22nd Big Cruise and Car Show. You’ll find information about it in this Newsgram.

Halloween Calories

Somewhat cooler temperatures are hinting at fall, and Halloween is just around the corner. I came across a list of the calories in various popular candies. Obviously, you can eat a lot of the smaller ones for the calories in a larger chocolate candy. But if you’re a chocolate lover, you’ll take one fun size Hershey bar over a handful of gummy bears. Here are calorie counts to remember when you raid your kid’s treat or treat stash:

For 100 calories in chocolate candies you can eat: 2.3 Reese’s miniature peanut butter cups, 2.4 Kit Kat miniatures, 2.4 Hershey’s minis, 8.6 peanut M&M’s or 2 York dark chocolate peppermint pattie pumpkins.

I tend to go for non-chocolate candy that can offer more pieces for 100 calories like 13.6 Brach’s candy corn, 4.3 Jolly Rancher hard candy, 10.9 Swedish Fish minis, 24.5 Skittles, 10.9 Sour Patch Kids or 13 Haribo Goldbears.