The first and last time Frank and I visited the Illinois State Fair was in 2005 when we first made a pit stop to see the Farnsworth House designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. We will leave that description for another day after I find the negatives and scan them soon. We made it to Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois, to tour the interior of Lincoln's Tomb and watch Civil War re-enactors march out with a very small cannon (think mini Stonehenge in This Is Spinal Tap) where they fired off a couple of blanks as seen in ILLINOIS STATE FAIR 2005_4A-6A. As we drove toward the exit of the cemetery I told Frank to stop because there was an amazing monument to Roy Bertelli aka Mr. Accordion as seen in ILLINOIS STATE FAIR 2005_7A. The following day we witnessed everything that you can imagine a state fair would offer. Blue ribbons for best pie, best pig, sheep, cow, you name it. I also placed a two dollar bet on a horse race and promptly lost my two bucks, it is no surprise that I do not have my Uncle Christ Cotsones's horse betting acumen. Frank and I are hamming it up, pun intended in ILLINOIS STATE FAIR 2005_10A-11A. While photographing the Democrats at the podium on Democrats Day, I recognized Senator Dick Durbin, Former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and off on the far right is former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan whose federal bribery trial has been delayed to October 2024. Do you see Barack Obama who served as the 44th President of the United States? This savvy photographer managed to photograph Barack Obama while he was an Illinois State Senator in ILLINOIS STATE FAIR 2005_12A-13A. The remainder of the photos are of the Lincoln House on 426 S. 7th Street which is worth a visit since it was the only house he ever owned. Included in later frames are the Dana House which was the blank check commission that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for socialite, Susan Dana. We packed it in all right, including staying at a historic B & B and eating some down home BBQ ribs on white bread to catch all of the drippings. See you in the next roll of film soon!
© Diane Alexander White PHOTOGRAPHY