It doesn't soak in just how important county fairs are in California till you visit fair websites and hear about concerns that the state will force the sale of fairgrounds in places such as Del Mar - San Diego, and Costa Mesa - Orange County. The state's in a budget mess and it has to be fixed, no doubt.

Literally millions of Californians and out-of-state visitors go to the county fair each year to taste foods, compete in contests and look (and sometimes touch) the animals-many part of the food chain. Kids growing up in big cities really don't know that their McDonald's chicken nuggets or Carl's Jr. hamburgers once were animals. The connection between food and the farm in some instances is totally missing.

The county fair isn't the end all to education about the importance of agriculture and practices utilized in farming. But for a brief day or even a few minutes, a child and his or her parents can learn about the amount of hay it takes to feed a cow and thus produce a gallon of milk you take home from a store.

Each county fair in California (even in the big cities) has a component dedicated to farming. Sure the midway and carnival rides are a huge draw, and also the headliner acts performing their songs make quite a splash. Millions of fair-goers eat BBQ beef sandwiches, roasted corn on the cob, and other tasty snacks. The fair is so much more than barns and animals. It is food, fun, rides, games, and lots of stage shows.

But the next time you go to a fair, be sure to visit the corrals where kids can see livestock and visit pens where pigs are groomed lovingly by grade school students competing for blue or gold ribbons. When you watch a young girl spray her animals so they don't overheat, or cuddle up to a pig and put her head on its big belly, you understand that the fair is an important place for kids especially.

The 2011 fair season has launched and one of the fun fair & festival events is just around the bend-Indio Date Festival and Riverside County Fair in February. Not all 58 county fairs (plus several more) have announced their 2011 dates just yet. Fairs such as San Diego County Fair and Orange County Fair break attendance records, each exceeding one million visitors annually. To say that they are cash cows would be a "fair" statement.

Have fun at a California fair!