I spent my early childhood in a small town in a rural part of New York. We went to the county fair every year. We did everything-rides, side show, crappy food, games, 4-H exhibits, livestock show, all of it. My cousins lived in an even more rural part of the state and they showed their cows every year-sometimes we went to their county fair. They would stay overnight, sleeping in a sleeping bag in the stall with their animals. It was the high point of their year. It took months to get an animal into show condition.