We hope that you enjoy these pictures. The individual galleries will be opened up in a separate window. A disk of all the images will be available after fair.

Saturday August 8 - Typical Michigan weather, cool morning, giving way to hot and sticky, torrential rain, sun then high humidity - all within a Few hours! But everyone did what they had to do to get things done. Now that is Fair Spirit! Around the fair pictures.

Sunday August 9 - Heat indexes in the high 90's but that did not stop the show. The parade went great, there were over 50 entries. The opening ceremonies were awesome, we had 3 people who showed at the first fair 75 years ago! Fair opens tomorrow! Come see us!! Parade pictures, opening ceremony pictures, around the fair pictures.

Monday August 10 - The temperature was much more comfortable today, but the fair was HOT!. So many events around the whole fair. Check out some of these out and about pictures.

Tuesday August 11 - What a beautiful day, the weather was warm but not too warm. The Reading for Rides program kicked into gear at about 11:00 Am as several thousand kids from the reading programs at the Kent District & Grand Rapids Public libraries flocked to the fair for a 2 hour free ride. The reading for rides program was sponsored by Kidz Roomz and Amway and Elliott's Amusements. The reset of the day featured numerous judging events and old time Irish singing under the big tent. Check out these pictures.

Wednesday August 12 - Another beautiful day weather wise. Today featured lots of judging events in preparation for the sale on Thursday. Under the big tent we had the Jabs playing covers of all your favorite songs. Out at the track the draft horse pull attracted hundred upon hundreds of people. Check out these pictures.

Thursday August 13 - Sale day ... it was a great sale, hundreds of buyers purchased thousands of dollars worth of livestock. We had bluegrass music under the big tent and a garden tractor pull out at the track. A very busy day indeed. Take a look at these pictures.

Friday August 14 - So much to eat, and only 2 days left! Fair food, I guess it is a good thing it is just for a week a year! Today featured an afternoon of entertainment on the community stage followed by the two Friday night traditions, Karaoke in the entertainment tent and Line Dancing with Lia in the barn. Here are some pictures from today.

Saturday August 15 - There are three things to look forward to Saturday at fair, the sweepstakes, the rodeo and the Saturday night entertainment. But before we get to the other Saturday activities, check out some great pictures of the morning activities over in the horse arena. The sweepstakes for those of you who do not know, is where the top winners from all of the breeds compete against each other in all of the breeds. The kids are also required to know a fair amount of information about each breed since the judge will as questions. The winners (junior & senior) are the best of the best. Check out some pictures from the sweepstakes and some general around fair pictures here. Next up would be the rodeo. There were so many entries that some of them had to compete after the official rodeo was over; in fact they went almost to midnight. Since I can not be in two places at once (I keep trying), I asked my friend Erin Rogers to take pictures of the rodeo. She is a great photographer as you can see by these rodeo pictures. Thanks Erin for taking the time to take the pix! Then we move onto the big Guitar Hero contest in the main entertainment tent. We were also joined by Blue Star Pilot, an awesome local band who is made up of 5 of the most talented musicians around. Since I was busy with the contest, I asked my friend and photographer Ginny Hodgson to help out. She is another great photographer who had all kinds of fun taking these pictures.

For me it is a bitter sweet time, the fair is over - all the excitement, hard work, fun and fair food will have to wait until next year when we do it all over again. Join us next year for the Kent County Youth Fair - The Best Week Of The Year - Bruce Doll