Monday, August 13, 2012

Competitive Glue A Shoe

I have aspirations to big shiny belt buckles and the perfect cowboy hat, but when I contemplate the most perfect possible souvenir from the great state of Texas, I'm pretty sure that what I want in life is a blue ribbon from the State Fair. I don't grow things or raise things or can things, which I know sounds like a handicap, but if I can get my hands on a hot glue gun, I think I have a chance.

For a two dollar entry fee, I can become a competitor in Glue A Shoe. There are separate classes for Boot, High Heeled Shoe, Sandal or Flip Flop, Tennis Shoe, and Slip On. There isn't an all-around award for the Glue A Shoe pentathlete who can do them all, but the top three awards in each class come with cash prizes, including ten, count them, TEN dollars for first place.

If this exists in Iowa, that pinnacle of State Fairs, I missed it. The seed art I noticed, the origami on a stick. But otherwise I was always distracted by how the prize winning boar and the top giant pumpkin are so nearly equal in weight, each year one within about ten pounds of the other, and yet no pumpkin is ever named Tiny or Freight Train or anything at all.

3 comments:

Carrie said...

So, you just have to decorate a shoe? What designs do you have in mind? How will you make it stand out? Is the state fair coming up soon? If you go you should get the deep fried oreo--fantastic.

Unknown said...

I am disappointed that they have a "no edibles" rule, as I think gluing Cheerios to a boot might be strangely satisfying, and certainly deep frying a flip flop must have some perks. Instead, I am envisioning little plastic animals in a jungle diorama of a loafer...

Jenny said...

Put one on your xmas list and start dreaming!