The Skillet Toss

This past Saturday, some fabulous poets and I found ourselves at the Lamoille County Field Days, here in Johnson, Vermont. It was the county fair — complete with animal barns, prize cucumbers, craft barn, tractor pulls, draft horses, midway games, rickety rides, and various foods deep fried and/or on a stick.  I was thrilled to find this booth: which featured, as you see, actual funnel cakes.  Not the typical New England fried dough (ugh, don’t GET me started) but light, crispy, funnel-poured, made to order deliciousness.  That, along with a burrito and lemonade, was my fair fare.  But none of this is the thing I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you about the Northern Vermont Ladies’ Underhanded Skillet Tossing Competition. One of the organizers mentioned that next year will be the 5oth birthday of the skillet toss. Last year, a VSC artist won, tossing the small and surprisingly hefty skillet 57 feet. She returned, of course, to defend her title.  There were five age “divisions.” When I signed up, I went from clipboard to clipboard, starting with the “Pee-Wees or something like that — toddlers and tots.  Eventually, I found myself at the fifth and final clipboard: 40+.  The name of this age division?  “Mrs.”  So I signed up with the Missuses, and then proceeded to watch more skillet tossing than is probably healthy. It took a LONG time to get up to the Mrs. contingent, but I am proud to say that this year’s winner, who tossed that sucker 63 feet (former champeen, had serious technique, was maybe a college discus thrower), was from the 40+ clipboard.  Although I only managed to hurl the skillet 26 feet, I am the proud recipient of a pink “participation” ribbon.  A few others from VSC also participated — including Liz, a visual artist from Alaska (pictured here):