caroni and cheese to string beans to
corn-on-the-cob to tomatoes [would be served]. Most anything that
could be raised or produced in a vegetable garden or in a truck
patch they'd bring. Then we had custard pies and lemon pies and
apple pies....[267]

The money made at the oyster dinners was used for school projects, to
buy church furnishings or aid in mission work.

* * * * *

Professional interest and pleasure were likewise combined at the various
fairs held in the area during the late summer. The county sponsored a
fair at Fairfax Courthouse until 1933 which featured new farm machinery,
exemplary produce and livestock, and a gay carnival atmosphere. The
_Herndon News-Observer_ gave a colorful account of the county festivities
in its September 23, 1926 edition:

The first day was largely devoted to judging, the second day saw a
large picnic by Dranesville farmers, the County Chamber of Commerce
and the 4-H Clubs frolicked on the third day while the visible and
invisible empire [of the Ku Klux Klan] held sway on the last day.
Good racing cards filled much of the afternoon. The prizes were
more substantial and the performances proportionally good. Every
exhibit building was loaded with all varieties and grades of
exhibits, while the livestock was as equally interesting in its
magnitude and diversification.

The flower department was carried partly out of the building where
loving hands [had] specially devoted time and energy toward
perfection. The woman's department, with nearly a thousand entries,
was a wonder of culinary art. The poultry building with every
squeek and squawk imaginable, fairly dazzled the farmers and their
friends, who came to see what Fairfaxians and their friends are
doing. Certainly no other fair in Virginia presented an arena of
keener competition and the prize winners deserve to be most highly
congratulated....[268]

The midway was a swirl of ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds and every
variety of game by which you might separate yourself from surplus
funds.

The region boasted a similar fair held generally in Prince William
County and having the dual purpose of promoting and celebrating the
dairy industry. The Piedmont Dairy Festival, as it was called, was
modeled after the famous Shenandoah Apple Blossom festival and was
jocularly known