We had a busy day yesterday, but it was a really nice one. First, of course, I went to the JPA Board Meeting in the morning, then, right after lunch Fred and I went to Cabot to help out at the Historical Society building where we hosted some of the people attending the Cabot Alumni Association meeting. There were perhaps a dozen people who visited the museum, and I met some friends I hadn't seen in a long time - always very nice.

We got home and had time to clean up a bit and catch our breath before heading to the Danville Fair. We didn't know what to expect, but we could see things were all set up in back of the school as we came into Danville on Route 2. It was eerie looking at the Green and seeing it torn up instead of bustling with tents and people. We parked a little way down the road from the school and as we walked up to where everything was set up in the school parking lot and on the athletic field, we bumped into Phil and Lorraine Porter from Joe's Pond - always fun.

There were lots of emergency vehicles on the fringe of the fairgrounds, and all the rides were set up on a rise near the wind turbine. The band was just setting up, so we went to get some burgers at the Queen Ann of Peace booth - although I admit I was temped by all sorts of "fair food" as we walked down the midway. We sat at the west end of the midway in our folding chairs while we ate, and watched the crowd. We saw Jane and Garey Larrabee and James and Alyssa; Dottie Larrabee was working at the ticket booth, Kitty Toll was circulating with tickets, and there were other familiar faces.

The crowd seemed good and stayed pretty constant until the raffle at 9 o'clock. Pete Blackadar and a friend from Florida had left early and left their tickets with us in case they had a winning number; but while Fred and I came close - one of our tickets was only one number off from one drawn, none of our tickets were winners. The band had lots of folks dancing - always a good sign - and I have to say, we've been on hand for the Bel Aire's concerts at the fair for many, many years (this was their 14th year at the fair), we've never heard them sound better. We've always enjoyed them, but this year they seemed to have a special spark. We have often left soon after the raffle drawing in late years, but last night we stayed until the last note had died over the hills of Danville.

I don't know what the numbers were, but it seemed to us the fair was a huge success, even though there was great concern about having to set up at the school. Everything seemed to go very well - I'm sure lots of careful planning went into making it go so well, and the organizers obviously did a great job.

Here's a slide show of pictures Fred and I took at the fair: Danville Fair 2011