Traci White Photo

As summer starts winding down, the valley has been hosting more festivals and fairs. Going to assignments like these seems kind of like shooting fish in a barrel, but finding unique photos of scenes that are inherently visual is trickier. But, still a lot of fun. The Rockingham County Fair and the Stone Tower Glenn Renaissance Faire were held in the same week:

Sherry Ball, from Yorktown, Va. - better known as Els with the Medieval Fantasies Company - belly dances at the Stone Tower Glenn Renaissance Faire on Saturday. 

Instrumentalists play Renaissance-era melodies arranged for woodwinds.

Rachel Towns (left), 16, from Weyers Cave, and Kirsten Soaper, 16, from Staunton, play an invented game of tossing three rubber balls into the air and catching them in a piece of fabric with the Natural Chimneys rock formation behind them.

Anna Updike (top left), 7, from Dayton, and her cousin, MacRae Richardson, 6, scream as they ride the catepillar roller coaster on Kid's Day at the Rockingham County Fair. 

Heavy rains temporarily sent visitors running for shelter and postponed the tractor pull, but the rides and games were filled as people made their way through puddles at the Rockingham County Fair.

Randy Moosbrugger guides his no. 72 super sportsman lawnmower around a turn on the dirt track in the Harrisonburg Ford Arena.

Howard Meredith churns out huge plumes of smoke as his tractor, "Meredith's Agitator," revs up during the East Coast Tractor Pullers in the Grandstand on Saturday night.

Fans cheer in the stands as black smoke drifts over them during the East Coast Tractor Pullers in the Grandstand on Saturday night at the Rockingham County Fair.