For the fair, something simply groovy.

Team Best of ... doesn't care if you call us fashionably late. The reason we're often late is because we're fashionable - looking this darn good takes time.

In our fashion philosophy, arriving for whatever soiree or fete appropriately dressed is of tantamount importance. But we also are creatures of deadline, of arriving in the nick of time - it comes from having an oh-so-packed social calendar.

A glance at one such page awash with engagements reminded us that we simply must put in a cameo at the Oregon Country Fair, which starts today. A glance at our closet told us our work duds just aren't going to cut it.

What to wear, what to wear?

It is, after all, impossible to show up underdressed to this legendary gathering, which draws tens of thousands to a tree-lined hippie haven west of Fern Ridge Reservoir every July.

The Oregon Country Fair, if anything, celebrates the human form, in all shapes and sizes - especially when they're painted in a Skittle-hued rainbow of colors. That being said, our mind first strayed toward skin-bearing options.

But as we perused the spray paint section of True Value Hardware, the thought of running into co-workers or sources with our, well, everything, hanging out and painted like a Smurf or the Silver Surfer made the nearly naked thing seem a lot less appealing.

Leaving butt prints on the bus also didn't seem so hot.

Fortunately, there's Sweet Potato Pie, a sweet slice of a shop downtown that has plenty of options to style a Country Fair-worthy ensemble.

For those who want a fantasy-filled fair, owner Elizabeth Thompson sells handmade, fabulous fairy skirts and dresses made from recycled material. Wings and hand-crafted masks can complete the costume.

The 10-year-old store, which emphasizes hemp and organic cotton, is seeing a surge in popularity in another natural fiber, employee Emily Paul said.

"Bamboo is kind of popping out all over the place," she said. "It's pesticide free and it wicks sweat."

While a fairy dress or fringed recycled cashmere skirt suits a lady, Paul suggested a Grateful Dead, tie dye or funny political T-shirt for the dudes.

It's a left-leaning store - one shirt on display depicted Vice President Dick Cheney as the tin man from `The Wizard of Oz," saying "I wish I had a heart," alongside George Bush as the scarecrow, proclaiming, "I wish I had a brain."

Politics aside, Thompson and her crew do custom orders, but they usually take a few weeks. Which makes us wish that maybe just this once, we hadn't waited so long to get our hippie on.

For a totally groovy online archive of earlier Best of ... columns, flashback to www.registerguard.com/bestof.