No fair outing is complete until one has attended a night shoot.
The lights, the rides, the people, all take another presence unmatched to day time photography (at least in my opinion).
Therefore, no matter how many times I attend the fair during the day, there is at least one evening visit included.
The State Fair 2024 was no exception.
Every year, in August, the State Fair opens up for approximately 10 days. And every year, it seems, I end up going to the fair at least once during those ten days.
In the past, I'd go because of the kids. But now a days, the purpose is to photograph.
Unfortunately, every year, I also seem to take the same type of photographs because after all nothing really changes at the State Fair, from year to year.
Except, this year there was something new.
The Scott County Courthouse is a government building in Winchester, the county seat of Scott County, Illinois, United States. Completed in 1885, it is the third courthouse in the county's history.
Scott County's first settlers arrived in 1820, one year after the Indians ceded the region to Americans. A pair of local shopkeepers decided to start a town on Sandy Creek in 1830, and one of them chose to name it for his hometown, Winchester, Kentucky.
Winchester became the county seat, as local residents offered to donate land and money for a courthouse and jail.
The new county's officials operated out of temporary facilities for just two years before the first courthouse was completed. This square two-story brick building served for forty-four years before the construction of the current courthouse.
County officials chose the St. Louis firm of James Stewart to design their new courthouse in 1885.When the building was completed, Scott County had spent approximately $35,500. The finished building is a two-story brick structure that rests on a stone foundation.
Rather than conforming to a single architectural style, the courthouse combines elements of different styles to an exceptional degree; in 1977, an Illinois Department of Conservation historic preservation report remarked that the courthouse "is so uniquely eclectic as to defy categorization.
Square sections with a single rounded-arch window on each story are placed on the building's corners, while the remaining portions of the sides feature several similar windows spaced closely together. A stone stringcourse visually separates the stories. Above the entrance rises a three-story tower topped with an exceptional onion dome. In 1917, the county converted the tower into a clock tower.
In 1979, much of Winchester was designated a historic district, the Winchester Historic District, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.The courthouse is the largest building within the district's boundaries, and also one of the most critical of the district's contributing properties.
(source)
The history of Decks drugstore began on March 7, 1884, when it was purchased by Lewis C. Deck and B.F. Clark. A few years later Lewis Deck became the sole proprietor. At this time the store sold drugs, groceries, and hardware. The store was dubbed the “white drugstore” as it was the only building front on Girard Square that was painted white. The second floor was used as a doctor’s office by Dr. George Hill and later by Dr. John Sharp.
Morgan County built their first county courthouse, a frame building, in 1825. Prior to this, court proceedings were held at various log cabins outside of Jacksonville- in fact Jacksonville had not yet been founded.
In 1828, the county built its second couthouse, constructed out of brick, on the Jacksonville square. It was the first of its kind and was completed in 1830. Abraham Lincoln argued the case of Selby vs Dunlap at the second county courthouse in 1854. By 1868 the second couthouse was torn down and the town square was left open.
G.B. Randall, a Chicago architect, designed the current couthouse in 1867 and the building was completed in 1869.
The design is considered unusual among county courthouses, as counties generally preferred more traditional designs. Randall's design features an arched loggia surrounding the building's southern entrance, asymmetrical towers at the southern corners with mansard roofs and bracketed cornices, arched dormers within the towers' mansards, and an assortment of round-head and bulls-eye windows.
One of the towers houses a 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) bell, which was intended to be part of a clock that was never installed.
I've been wanting to capture the inside of this church for several years. Each time I tried I hit a wall so to speak.
First there was Covid, the church doors were closed.
Then there was constuctions around the area, the doors were closed.
Then there was renovation of the inside, the doors were closed.
You get the idea.
Anyway, last week when I got off the train and out onto Canal Street, I looked to my left and once again saw that gorgeous steeple staring at me.
I figured what the heck, let me try again and see if the doors are open.
Lucky me!!!! Doors were open and the public could enter.
There was arrangements being made for an upcoming funeral, but the gentleman working at the church was nice enough to let me wander around and snap away.
Since its founding by Irish immigrants on Easter morning in 1846, Old St. Patrick’s has been interwoven in the life and history of the City of Chicago. Founded in 1846 as the first English-speaking parish in the city, the current church building was designed in a Romanesque style by two of Chicago’s earliest practicing architects: Augustus Bauer and Asher Carter. The cornerstone was laid on May 23, 1853, and the building was dedicated on Christmas Day, 1856.
Old St. Patrick’s is one of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Its survival makes it the oldest public building in the City of Chicago.
Inspired by the Celtic art exhibit at the Columbian Expostition of 1893 and the Book of Kells in Ireland, Thomas A. O’Shaughnessy designed, constructed, and personally installed the 15 beautiful stained-glass windows of Old St. Patrick’s between 1912 and 1922. The 12 side windows were inspired by the Celtic designs of Ireland’s Book of Kells. The final triptych windows, done in an art nouveau style and installed in the eastern facade of the church, are the “Faith, Hope & Charity” windows, also known as the Terrence MacSwiney Memorial Triptych. In 1977, Old St. Patrick’s was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Old St. Patrick’s Church has stood at the western gateway of Chicago’s Loop for more than 150 years. Built seven generations ago, this old city Church, a treasure born of the immigrant dream, has welcomed hundreds of thousands of people through its doors who seek a deeper, richer experience of life.
Today, Old St. Patrick’s is home to a membership of more than 3,000 households.
(source)
In many parts of the old world, and in the past, in mountain regions of Europe, caked and dried cow dung was used as fuel.
In India, it is dried into cake like shapes called upla or kanda, and used as replacement for firewood for cooking in chulah (traditional kitchen stove).
Cow dung, is often used as agricultural fertilizer. If not recycled into the soil by species such as earthworms and dung beetles, cow dung can dry out and remain on the pasture, creating an area of grazing land which is unpalatable to livestock.
In several cultures, cow dung is traditionally used to coat floors and walls. In parts of Africa, floors of rural huts are smeared with cow dung: this is believed to improve interior hygiene and repel insects
Nowadays, it is also used in creating flower and plant pots. It is plastic free, biodegradable and eco-friendly. Dissolves naturally and becomes excellent manure for the plant.
Aside from all the above uses of cow dung, there is one more use for this versatile "cake", and that is the cow chip throw.
Our neighboring community, Chatham, has made the "Cow Chip Throw Competition"a yearly summer event during their Sweet Corn Festival.
Okay, so this one might seem a little on the icky side (literally), but that doesn’t mean that it’s not fun and highly entertaining to watch. In this event, participants are required to throw a hardened, disc-shaped piece of cow dung as far as they can.
Official Cow Chip Throw rules stipulate that the chips must be more than six inches in diameter.
Novice throwers generally go with the “bigger is better rule,” selecting the largest chips they can find. Veterans, though, look for ones smaller in diameter but with some heft to them and as perfectly round as possible. They know that larger, drier chips will break apart mid-air, and they shake them with one hand to test their durability before picking.
The veteran throwers also know better about keeping their mouths closed as the wind whips through the crowd and debris fleck from the chips and go flying.
Contestants select two chips, each about 6 inches in diameter. The person who throws the farthest wins, and if it breaks in mid-flight, the piece that travels farthest is counted.
This might seem easy, but it actually takes quite a bit of skill to fling your chip the farthest. Most throw overhanded with the flick of their wrist, instead of throwing the chip “frisbee style.”
Two of the biggest competitions in this country are the World Championship Cow Chip Throwing Contest in Beaver, Oklahoma and the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw and Festival in Sauk City, Wisconsin.
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