Journeys›Photograph

Fairs and Farms Around the Bay

·San Francisco, California·#summer#bay area#family#kids#petting-zoo#2009
A child in a green sweater and pink skirt touches a brown cow's face next to a wooden fence.

Catching up on our recent run of fairs and farms around the Bay, which has settled into a routine of celery and things you're not supposed to climb.

At the fair there was a jeep covered end to end in Lego, with a sign wired to the grille asking people not to climb it — clearly a sign written from experience. The big kid did a lap of the chalk drawings on the asphalt outside, and later sat parked in the stroller next to a contraption strung with lava lamps and glowing mesh wings, reaching for it the whole time.

At the farm, celery is the currency. One of the moms doled out stalks from a tote bag at the fence; the little one clutched a whole stalk from dad's arms while a cow leaned over the rail, and the big kid pushed a leaf through the boards at full arm's length, keeping the rest of the body well back.

We also swung by the carousel beside the Koret Children's Quarter in Golden Gate Park — kids five and under ride free with a paying adult, which is the right price. Cotton candy at the rail, bigger than the head working on it.

A child stands on a white tarp near a Jeep covered in colorful LEGO bricks, with people and tents behind.A young child in a pink top stands on a paved surface decorated with colorful chalk drawings.A smiling child sits in a red stroller next to a glowing, futuristic machine with a stuffed giraffe at an indoor event.A man holding a child feeds a brown cow a leaf, with other people and trees in the background.A woman eats pink cotton candy inside a brightly lit carousel with other blurred riders.A person in a cap holds a child looking left, who holds a green stalk next to a wooden post outdoors.Two adults and two children hold celery stalks while standing by a wooden fence with green trees.A child in a green sweater leans on a wooden fence, holding a leaf out to an animal enclosure.

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