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Remember the Michigan State Fair

Remember the Michigan State Fair

A few years ago Michigan lost its state fair and it broke my heart to report that. The first Michigan state fair was held in 1849. This state fair was claimed by Michigan to be the oldest state fair in the USA. The Michigan State Fair Agricultural Society bought the land for it on April 18th, 1905 for one dollar. The land eventually had a coliseum with seating for 5,600 and held two NASCAR races. Funding for the State Fair was cut off by the governor in Oct. 2009. There was no fair in 2010 or 2011. In 2011 Great Lakes Agricultural Fair, a 501 C (3) organization, was created to provide a resurgence and rising of an agricultural event The Great Lakes State Fair took place August 31 through September 3, 2012 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in the Detroit suburb of Novi. There is a interview on this page with Mike Watts is the Fair’s executive director. The 2013 fair won’t be held at the State Fairgrounds in Detroit. Its new home will be the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi. Take a look at this article Michigan State Fair Returns For Labor Day Weekend 2013, posted March 26th, 2013. The fair also has a new website so you can see what is going on.

By |2019-05-24T00:57:14+00:00March 28th, 2013|Michigan, Novi, State Fair|1 Comment
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JJ Harrison, Rodeo Clown

JJ at one of his "better" moments. I had the privilege of interviewing rodeo clown JJ Harrison this year at the Denver National PRCA Rodeo in January. JJ has a lot of energy. He came to being a clown from being a school teacher - a thing which also requires a lot of energy. He basically is just a funny unrehearsed guy who loves to kid around. He is also a pilot. JJ does try to stick close to home however because of the gas prices and his four year old son. This is a great interview and in it JJ also gives some advice for youngsters who might want to follow in his footsteps.  

By |2019-03-23T22:53:16+00:00March 27th, 2013|JJ Harrisson, Colorado, Denver, Podcast, Podcast, Rodeo Clown|2 Comments
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About Chickens

Domesticated chickens have been around a long long time. They are thought to have come from China originally around 5300 BC from the wild Red Jungle Fowl. This has been confirmed by DNA analysis. A millennia of domestication has altered the species. Domesticated chickens appear in Pakistan about 2500 BC. Domesticated chickens appeared in Chile in the Americas around 1350 AD - which was long before the Spanish were there. It is believed they came from the Polynesian Islands about 3300 years ago. Many archaeologists believe that chickens were first domesticated not for eating but for cock fighting. Cockfighting was legal in Louisiana (the last state to ban it ) until 2008. Chickens were and still are a sacred animal in some cultures. Chickens accompanied Roman soldiers into battle and watched - a good apatite of the chicken insured a victorious battle was at hand. If the chickens did not eat then the Romans were sure to lose the battle. Chickens now of course are bred to be sold to us in the supermarket. Today chickens have increased body weight and increased large egg production. They are also about 25% fat. These are "broilers" - breeds that are plump and meaty. Today there has been arsenic found in chicken feed and a lot of today's domesticated chickens have a high degree of bacterial contamination according to Men's Health magazine. People today eat these chickens. Another problem is the cooking of the chicken itself. Many food establishments simply do not cook the chicken well enough. A pink color of the cooked chicken is bad - except, if it is smoked chicken and then that is okay. Yes, you can get food poisoning from under cooked or raw chicken from a bacteria called "Salmonella, Campylobacter or Staphylococcus aureus" - this can be fatalSalmonella typhi bacteria, can be passed from human handler to human handler and causes typhoid fever. Campylobacter can cause temporary paralysis. I have wanted to provide a little history here of the domesticated chicken. Eating red meat has more perils - but eating chicken has perils also. What we eat is each of our own individual decisions and what has been passed down to us. Many believe that eating chicken is not necessary and bad is for you, and unhealthy. The statement " if it had a mama and a papa " you should not be eating it has meaning to many. Chicken and turkey is served at a lot of the county and state fairs and [...]

By |2016-10-23T11:34:35+00:00March 4th, 2013|Chicken, Concessions, Food|0 Comments
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Food Vending, Pima County Arizona Part two

Well, as some of you may know I had a peanut brittle booth at the 4th Avenue Street Fair this year. I want to report to the food vendors about food vending at this event in Tucson, Arizona. As you know the 4th Avenue Street Fair is huge. It occurs twice a year one in December and then in the spring, usually in March. Competition to get into this event is very very high and there is a intense jury process that starts at Zapp For years I have hesitated in trying to get into this event as I believed the process to be too difficult - after all peanut brittle is a food product. My product is however pre-packaged and currently I have a wholesale food license from the state of Colorado. This license gives me a right to sell anywhere in the USA, including the 4th Avenue Street Fair in Tucson. Now, the 4th Avenue Merchants Association takes good care of its potential food vendors - and acts as a buffer between the Pima Health Department and the 4th Avenue event. My experience with the Pima Health Department in this regard was nothing short of dismal. Don't call them if you want into this street fair. Please just fill out the Zapp Application and once accepted into the show follow the instructions of the Merchants Association. Calling the Pima Health Department is a waste of time. They sincerely appear to not know what they are doing. I tried a few times. It appears that some of the people answering the phone there do not even know about this street fair. This is dismal. This fair is huge and very near the downtown area. Then there is a question of what regulations to follow at the street fair regarding screening in your booth. The Pima County Health Department told me one thing and the street fair another. Since the street fair is successful and its their venue - do what they tell you. So if you are a new food vendor hesitating because of the regulations concerning food vending in Arizona, and you want to do this event, just contact the Merchants Association and leave the Pima Health Department out of the loop. This is a great event for a new food vendor to do especially if you have a great new product that has not been at the street fair before.

By |2019-05-16T20:47:11+00:00January 4th, 2013|Fair, Arizona, Christmas, Colorado Wholesale License, Concessions, Food, Green Valley, Peanut Brittle, Tucson, Vendors|0 Comments
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AZ, 4th Avenue Street Fair Tucson, Christmas 2012

Well, I survived. I always wanted to do the 4th Avenue Street Fair in Tucson with my peanut brittle. I have been making and selling homemade peanut brittle for about forever. It is made in the shape of Christmas Wreaths, mostly, decorated and put into white sturdy pizza boxes. The Street Fair was to say the least an experience. Did I make money? Well, yes, but not as much as I had thought I would. It had been awhile since I had attended or looked at the street fair. The crowds are enormous. People go from Speedway to the bridge down 4th Avenue in droves and come back the other way in droves. I am convinced the crowds come a lot because the weather is usually great in Tucson this time of year. A lot of people attending the street fair are winter residents getting away from the cold northern climates. I must say I was rather disappointed in a lot of the booths quality. If I was running the fair I would be much harder in the jurying of the booths. A lot of the booths were great and had a good appearance and good quality stuff. Unfortunately, many had the atmosphere and presentation of a flea market quality. This street fair has been around a long long time and in my opinion it ought to present a more professional higher quality vendor. There was no help in getting me out of there after the fair was over either. The police seemed annoyed and bothered by the vendors trying to disassemble after the event. I ended up taking out my stuff by myself a block and a half in a hand cart. It was pretty impossible to drive down the street and pick up my stuff. Will I do it again? I don't know. It was physically and mentally exhausting. Besides, I rediscovered the fact that vendors for the most part are second class citizens for some reason. Its a shame because some of the vendors are really great artists and great art is important.

By |2019-05-16T21:00:31+00:00December 30th, 2012|Fair, Arizona, Christmas, Tucson, Vendors|0 Comments
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Large Government Hand Outs for Corporate Mega Farms.

This is the fiscal cliff bill and it is part of balancing the federal budget. The House of Representatives is trying to cut subsidies to the largest and most profitable farm business. This would be the best way to relive budget pressure that threatens organic and local farming, conservation and anti-hunger aid. A lot of today's industrial commodity farms are seeing large profits. These big agricultural farms are trying to get more government hand outs. "Dollars wasted on bloated subsidy payments will not be available to grow more organic food and protect vital nutrition programs for unemployed and low-income Americans" Tell Congress to say NO to this. Go here and email your congressperson.

By |2016-10-23T11:34:36+00:00December 11th, 2012|Farm|0 Comments
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Mystery of the Colorado Wholesale Food License

Mystery of the Colorado Wholesale Food License I sell Peanut Brittle Candy as a side business. Seems like a simple enough idea. Right? My peanut brittle is wonderful and the product cooks at 300 degrees. Now, to sell a product like this to stores in Colorado you need a Wholesale Food License and a Sales Tax License and a Business License. Having a wholesale food license gives you the right to sell to businesses across the country. It will also give you the right to do events in different states with just the wholesale license. We have made it difficult to get all this. The process is quite hard. First, in Colorado your product has to be made in a registered wholesale food manufacturing and/or storage facility. and it has to be approved by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. So how does the average person, with no experience find such a facility? The first thing is to find a local business that has a registered kitchen with the Colorado Department of Public Health. Then talk to the owner and explain to them what you want to do and make some kind of deal to give them a cut of your income. This actually is the easiest part of the whole thing. The easiest way to get started with this process is just to call the Division of Environmental Health and Sustainability at 303-692-3620. They are very helpful and will tell you what to do. They cannot help you with sales tax however. More steps on Colorado Wholesale Food License: apply for wholesale sales tax license Doing Events as a vendor in the State of Colorado Colorado Wholesale Food License I hate to say this, it depends on the county. Some counties will take your wholesale license and need nothing else. Other counties have a mound of paperwork for you to jump through. Call the public health department of the county in which you want to do the event. Sometimes getting to the right department can be tricky, you need to be persistent and tell them exactly what you want to do. To Get a Single Special Event License (Colorado) -- For a temporary location other than your regular business location and valid for one event only where there are three or more vendors. This is a two-year license which is free to all standard sales tax license holders. To apply for this use the Special Event Application (DR 0589) form or use [...]

By |2024-02-29T08:40:59+00:00September 19th, 2012|Colorado Wholesale License, Concessions, Peanut, Peanut Brittle, Vendors|2 Comments
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It’s all about Food and the term GMO

Do you know what the term GMO stands for? Try genetically engineered foods (GMO foods that are genetically modified organisms, foods made in the lab). Some people have never heard this term. If you go to a grocery store on any given weekend... look at the shoppers. Most are pudgy and look sickly. These days a lot more of our children suffer from chronic disease than ever before. Why is that? We are eating "fake" food. People in general suffer more from inflammatory disease, diabetes, and allergies. I have read studies that have been done on housecats - four generational studies. It takes four generations of the domestic cat - not being fed processed food, BEFORE, their allergies disappear. What has become of us? Instead of using the foods we have been God-given and trying to make them more abundant and grow them, we have decided to take shortcuts. It comes down of course to money. Business needs money and if there is a shortcut to be had to get some they are going to take it. County and State Fairs are about farming and agriculture and it seems to me they ought not to be supporting foods that are genetically made and produced in a lab. As such anyone who runs a farm or county or state fair should be very concerned about this. There is a new film coming out called "Genetic Roulette Gambling with Our Lives". It is based on interviews with physicians, veterinarians, farmers, scientists, and consumers. It has been produced by a non-profit group called, the Institute for Responsible Technology. I believe the general public is getting more aware. I also believe we can feed ourselves with organic food that is GMO-free. Humans after all are supposed to be intelligent. Are we? Can we not find a way to grow food say in high-rise buildings? Like, real food? If you have any interest in this subject I would like you to leave a comment. Learn more: It's all about Food and the term GMO

By |2024-02-26T04:59:10+00:00September 3rd, 2012|Food|0 Comments
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