Piggy-Wiggy Wigglies

Day 339: Working at the Fair has substantial bonuses. Best of all, I get a free pass for each day I have a shift in the Park booth and am allowed to enter the fairgrounds before the gates open. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near the piggies in the Pig Palace, even with attendance as low as it seems to be this year. These little critters are impossible to photograph without flash when they're awake, all squirm and squeal and wiggles, but nothing is as cute as a contented and sleeping piglet, at least not in my book. What's not to love about those long eyelashes and wrinkly noses and enormous ears? Is it any wonder that the pig barn is the most popular animal venue at the Fair?

Nothing Cuter Than Piggies

Day 343: What is it about little piggies that makes them so endearing? I don't know, but I am one of the thousands of people who think piglets are an essential part of any county or state fair. Yep, it's time to "do the Puyallup" again, and because I'm working in the Park booth, I get in early and can get up close to the pig pens before the mobs arrive. Piggy popularity has been so high that Fair officials have installed a closed-circuit TV to provide viewing for people who lack the sharp elbows and steel-toed boots otherwise necessary to get a position at the fence, and more squealing and grunting comes from the crush of visitors than from the pigs themselves.

Piggy Music

Day 346: You can't deny it. Piglets are adorable and the "Pig Palace" at the Washington State Fair has been moved and improved to provide better viewing opportunities for visitors. They had two litters on display today and in both pens, it was a free-for-all. The runt (the little red guy behind the black and white one) was having no trouble holding his own, and was responsible for the loudest squealing you'll hear in the video.