It's not time for the Denver County Fair quite yet -- that won't happen until August 9-11 -- but it's time to start getting excited about it. To help you with your immediate pie cravings and future funnel-cake dreams, we present this year's Denver County Fair poster, the third in a fun and funky series from Denver artist Mark Penner Howell. While last year's (below) featured a goat and a young yellow chick, this year's flips the chick theme upside down with Warby Parkers, a unicorn and what appears to be a Denver County Fair tattoo. Continue reading for an update on this year's festival to help get you in the mood for your own ink.

See also:
- Best of Denver: Best Annual Festival 2012 -- Denver County Fair
- Denver County Fair: "You can't call it a freakshow unless you have a freak"
- Photos: The People of the 2012 Denver County Fair

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How much does it cost to put on a county fair? According to Tracy Weil of the Denver County Fair, about $200,000 -- and the DCF isn't funded in any way by the county, unlike most traditional fairs. Of course, that's also what helps sets the DCF apart from all the other fairs: Weil and fair director Dana Cain, left to their own creative devices, designed a uniquely urban event that went far beyond the usual bucolic displays, country music shows and tractor pulls.

See also:

- Five prizeworthy parts of the 2012 Denver County Fair
- Ten new reasons to buy your ticket to the Denver County Fair now
- Was the Denver County Fair a success? Dana Cain weighs in

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During a long weekend at the new, improved, second annual Denver County Fair, one thing became very apparent: There's no way to see everything, and there's nothing you'll want to miss. We caught spelling bees and speed-knitting contests, an art gallery that seemed like an endless maze, cooking and composting demos, stilt-walkers and creepy clowns, chickens and alpacas and cavies and bears. Fair director Dana Cain calls the event her love letter to Denver, quirks and all, and that it is. Here are just a few reasons why.

Also see:

- Slide show: Denver County Fair 2012
- Denver County Fair Freakshow Pavilion: "You can't call it a freakshow unless you have a freak"
- County Fair Geek Pavilion: "Stormtroopers, zombies, steampunks ... it's going to be pretty dang cool"
- Slide show: Freaks, friends at the Denver County Fair

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For more, see Slideshow: Freaks and friends at the Denver County Fair.

This looks like it hurts. A lot. This morning, Westword photographer Christopher Morgan headed to the opening hours of this year's Denver County Fair to capture the pained and friendly faces at the Freakshow Pavilion in the National Western Complex. This year's event runs August 10-12 and promises "real freaks" in addition to pie-eating, hula-hooping, pinata-bashing, sopapilla-tossing and many other traditional and first-time activities our writers will be covering throughout the weekend. Check back at Show and Tell for more on our favorite events.

See also:
- Denver County Fair Freakshow Pavilion: "You can't call it a freakshow unless you have a freak"
- Denver County Fair: Viva Denver Gets Loco on Sunday

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Toss this!

The second annual Denver County Fair is already under way, and in honor of the fact that one-third of Denver County's population is Latino, one-third of this year's fair will be Latino.

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, the fair will be devoted to Viva Denver, a celebration of Latino culture. The fun starts with Andrew Novick's X-Treme Breakfast Burrito, and the activities continue with chihuahuas and iguanas in the Animal Pavilion, a multi-pavilion Pinata Bash event, a Sopapilla Toss open competition (Casa Bonita is participating in this year's fair), Dia de Los Muertos face painters and more. We asked Enrique Jimenez, local guitar hero and Viva Denver coordinator, to tell us a bit about the day. Unfortunately, we forgot to ask one vital question: How do you say 'hipster' en espanol?

See also:
- Ruby Ann Boxcar brings trailer-park truth to Denver County Fair
- Denver County Fair 2011 in photos
- Best of Denver: Best Annual Festival - Denver County Fair

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Ruby Ann Boxcar is one of the bonafide stars of this year's Denver County Fair, which runs tomorrow through Sunday. Hailed as the Dame Edna of the Trailer Park, Boxcar is a performer, speaker, and the author of numerous cookbooks that celebrate the art of frugal, second-hand living. A big personality with hair to match, Boxcar will share some of her white-trash wisdom with fairgoers during several workshops and activities that explore everything from gastronomy to cheap-and-green crafting. We asked Boxcar, who visits Denver by way of her hometown of Panbgurm, Arkansas, to give us a taste of what she's cooking up this weekend.

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Steampunks and more await within the Geek Pavilion.

Fear not, geeks (and geek-curious): The Geek Pavilion at the second annual Denver County Fair, which runs from Friday, August 10 through Sunday, August 12 at the National Western Complex, is in excellent hands. That's because Dana Cain, the Denver County Fair's director, is passionate about nerd life. "The Geek Pavilion, I don't mind saying, is my special baby," she explains. And she's doing her best to make sure her baby is, to use her term, "nerdvana."

To that end, she's gathered all manner of things that geeks love, from role-playing games to a robot opera, and put them together in one place so that fairgoers can get their geek on with maximum efficiency. And what will you find there? We talked with Cain to learn more about nerdvana...and how the Denver County Fair will help you find it.

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Brinny D. Photography

You want a freak? I got your freak right here.

Ukulele Loki knows a thing or two about what makes a freakshow a freakshow. He's been active in the circus and sideshow arts (yes, that is a thing) for years, honing his craft as a "talented talker" (or what the squares might call a barker, a term he rejects as vulgar) and delving into the history and culture of the carnival sideshow. When he was approached to curate the Freakshow Pavilion at the second annual Denver County Fair, which runs from Friday, August 10 through Sunday, August 12 at the National Western Complex, he accepted on one condition: that it be as authentic as possible.

To find out exactly what that means, and what fairgoers can expect from the Freakshow, we sat down with Loki to talk freaks, sideshow and deformed balloon animals.

See Also:
- Photos: Freaks and friends at the Denver County Fair
- Ten new reasons to buy your Denver County Fair ticket now
- Denver County Fair 2011 in photos
- Best of Denver: Best Annual Festival - Denver County Fair

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Update: A lot of folks are reporting bumper crops this warm summer. How about you? If you haven't already entered your prized eggplant or handmade quilt (because, hey, not all of us garden) in the Denver County Fair, you've been given a reprieve: The fair has extended its online competition entry deadline to July 31. So. Remember last year when you left the fair saying to yourself, "Next year, I'm gonna do that, too?" Here's your chance. Read on, for the original details.

See also:

- Ten new reasons to buy your ticket to the Denver County Fair now
- Denver County Fair announces dates, changes for 2012
- Clucking Golden! Anna Cascano, winner of the Denver County Fair's Human Chicken Contest

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If last year's inaugural Denver County Fair was a grand experiment, this year's "is going to blow the first one out of the water on all counts!" says DCF maestra Dana Cain. That's because Cain's mental notepad was a cover-to-cover frenzy of new ideas and lessons learned by the time the 2011 event was over, and she is, if anything, the most meticulous of event planners. She and fellow fair promoter Tracy Weil started planning for modifications a year ago, beginning with a date change allowing for extra produce-ripening time for contest entrants.

See also:
-- The Denver County Fair in Photos
-- Was the Denver County Fair a success? Dana Cain weighs in
-- The Denver County Fair says: Yes, in my back yard! Enter competitions now

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