My favorite thing at the Washington County Fair is walking around at night and watching the farm families and their 4-H kids sitting around, talking, cleaning the cows, getting ready for the next day’s judging. Despite the rides and the food, this is the heart of the fair, the coming together of these hard-pressed families for a week or so to talk, share news, and just be together in a very tightly-knit community that few outsiders ever penetrate. These are my favorite images, late at night, before going off to their trailers, they catch up, talk about new machinery, farmers who have gone under, and of course, their kids and cows.