An overcast sky predicts rain today.
Traditionally, August is the rainiest month of the year in Fairbanks.
Last year rain drizzled every day of the Tanana Valley Fair. Perhaps this year will be different.
July was rainy, too. I consider that a blessing because Fairbanks doesn't get much rainfall. Now everything is so green and there are no raging, out-of-control forest fires smoking up the sky.
A strong possibility exists for a frost this month.
Most of the gardens will be harvested before Labor Day.
The only crop that will still be in the ground is potatoes which grow very well in the Interior climate.
The Tanana Valley Fair theme for 2001 was "A Fair Oddity
".
Advertising for the fair usually takes advantage of any the puns available from this slogan. However, this year, in view of the events of September 11, the theme is chosen to be "There's No Place Like Home."
Cabbage, broccoli, lettuce and carrots outsize any produce you come by in the lower 48 states.
I've seen 50-pound cabbages at the
Tanana Valley Fair more than once.
Excitement fills the air. Children enter their drawings.
Cooks enter their best recipes with the prospect of bringing home a blue ribbon. One year my lemon meringue pie won a blue ribbon. Perhaps I ought to try and develop a wheat-free version.
Gardeners prepare their dahlias for the flower show.
Local crafts people display their artistry.
Let's buy a gift labeled "Made in Alaska".
By the end of August, the children will be returning to school.
Darkness falls at night.
Twenty-four-hour daylight will soon be a memory.
