On Saturday evening, the air was hot, thick and muggy, flavored with anticipation and seasoned with a hint of petroleum fumes.

More than 5,000 fans crowded around the Finch arena at the Carroll County Ag Center to watch 11 combines, the size of small houses, crash into each other. (See Charles Schelle's story, Page 1.)

For those who are not familiar with these gentle giants of the farm, a "combine" is a field crop piece of equipment that combines the jobs of harvesting, threshing, and cleaning grains.

The combine demolition derby was a new affair at the Carroll County 4-H FFA Fair. It was the icing on the cake for the beginning of this year's fair, which has a reputation for re-inventing itself and adding fresh and innovative approaches. Yet the fair also always manages to preserve and build upon the familiar and successful atmosphere of farm life.

It is one of the premier family events in central Maryland and adds to any definition of the personality of Carroll County.

At the combine event, big burly men roamed about with shirts that read "Security" on the back, cowboy hats and boots were aplenty and a veritable phalanx of photographers and videographers stalked the perimeter.

Each machine was escorted by pit crews, which fawned over and constantly refreshed the menacing machines with ant-like endeavor.

It was a worldwide wrestling concrete cage match between marauding machinery with names like Army Farmer, The Tin Man, Pink Elephant, First Responder, Asphalt Cowboy and Lucille.

The event was as much shaped by the observers as by the observed. A play-by-play of the slow-motion minuet dance of the hulking machines was broadcast with the fervor of an exorcism in which the demons of agriculture were released by clashing and smashing.

It's appropriate that this spectacle occurred the Carroll County fair -- one of the nation's older, most successful and popular country fairs.

These hulking pieces of farm equipment were publicly sacrificed in order to give the living a new meaning in life. The cultivators of crops were resurrected from equipment graveyards of nearby farms so that they could die again, in front of a large audience.

The disembodied entrails, fenders, sheet metal, wheel rims, and pieces of tires trailed the machines as the contest wore-on.

"You're on the clock ... You must make contact in the allotted time or you will be eliminated," came a cry across the loudspeaker as desperate drivers grinded gears and tried to coax their behemoths to come alive again.

It was all to the cheers of fans who played their role better than any audience attending a gladiator event at a Roman coliseum. Then when the thumbs down sign came, the crowd cheered once again as a monster machine with giant jaws hungrily hunted down the vanquished equipment and dragged it away.

The evening was great fun. Prize money was awarded to the last standing machine, but everyone -- the participants, the fair, and the spectators were the real winners of the evening.

If you have not had a chance to visit the fair this week, it continues with family-fun events, demonstrations, exhibits, and great food through Friday at the Carroll County Agriculture Center, 700 Agriculture Dr., Westminster.

This evening is the annual Cake Auction at 7 p.m. Thursday evening features the Grandparents Contest at 6:30 p.m. and Friday, a concert with Lady Antebellum, Jay Henley and Stone Broke takes the stage at 6 p.m.

For more details, visit www.carrollcountyfair.com or call 410-848-FAIR.

Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster. E-mail him at kdayhoff@carr.org.

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