This Year's Visit to the Fair

As with the Fair Parade, it’s also time for our annual visit to the Fair. With the exception of one recent year, we went to the fair on Saturday morning, just like always.

I’m not sure what was going on but boy, the Fair sure seemed to be sparse this year.

I don't know why this was. Unlike at the parade, it didn’t rain - at least not when we were there. Granted, we get there pretty early, but even still…

And it wasn't just the crowds (or lack of them) that were thin, it was pretty much everything. Usually, the entries in the various buildings, whether they be flowers or produce, are crowding each other out. But not this year. This year, there were a lot of empty spaces.

I would attribute this to an overly wet growing season, which produced poor crop yields - and this may indeed be part of the problem - but it wasn’t just confined to agriculture. Upstairs, where they have the craft, photograph and art entries, it was also pretty sparse. Maybe too many creative people were too depressed by all the wet weather to be creative.

One good thing about this “thinning of the Fair” situation was that, when it came walking through the two buildings, where various vendors set up their displays, it was also pretty pathetic (at least, in terms of quantity of vendors. I have no comment on the quality of the vendors.) This meant that I needed to avoid eye contact with fewer people - so that was pretty good.

Speaking of these vendors, I noticed that even though there were fewer of them, of these, there seemed to be an overpopulation of bathroom re-outfitters. I didn’t know this was such a growth industry. I wonder if they knew this. Do these vendors set up at the Fair thinking that they’re going to be the only ones - and then get all pissed-off when they see that there’s a roomful of other bathroom re-outfitters? Do they badmouth the competition to any poor soul who isn’t smart enough to avoid making eye contact?

Anyway, along with everything else, there also seemed to be fewer rides this year. Here’s a couple of photos I took while riding the Ferris Wheel. The first one is from a few years ago, the other one was taken this year...

Not This Year

This Year

See? Night and day! (Get it? My next show's at eleven. Tell your friends.) It's a little hard to tell from these pictures (because of the night and day thing) but take my word for it, there were fewer rides.

We don't go on a lot of rides anymore (though this year, Helaina went on the Ferris Wheel with me, Sam went on the merry-go-round and Sam and Helaina both went on the bumper cars together) so from that perspective, having fewer rides is not that big of a deal. But to me, the Fair is about families being together and little kids having fun - and that's what, to me, the rides represent.

Once again, we went to the pig races. The Fair has had these pig races for years and years, but we didn't start watching them until two, maybe three years ago. (Naturally, this was at Sam's request.)

Though it would be hard to top the racing pig show from a few years ago, it was still a pretty good show. How this pig racing outfit compares to all of the other racing pig shows out there, I have no idea.

I have no funny story to tell about the pig races this year. There was one thing that happened which I thought was kind of nice, and I started to write about it. But it ended up taking so much explanation to set it up - and then there was no particular punchline - it even made me say, "What was the point of all of this???" Consider yourself spared.

To try to make amends for your bitter disappointment (over missing out on that non-exciting story - not this entire post,) I will instead share with you a few non-exciting fair photos...

Here's another photo of Sam taken from the second floor of the Round House. In case you're wondering, I'm pretty sure that Sam's not hiding a piece of stolen fruit behind his back. (Now, if that were me...) Just kidding,Fair Committee.

After visiting the Round House and a couple of the other buildings, we headed over the the Baby Barnyard. The fact that Sam fed a couple of the animals and risked the possibility of getting any baby animal saliva on his fingers, is pretty remarkable. This would have been unheard of a few years ago (no matter how cute the animals were).

Here's one taken as we walked down the fun packed midway (see previous years worth of photos - which look almost exactly the same).

After walking/running through the two "Gauntlet of the Vendors" buildings (soon to be renamed, "Gauntlet of the Bathroom Re-Outfitters"), we rewarded ourselves, like usual, with our traditional brunch, consisting of ketchup with some French fries on the side.

Here's another photo, this one taken approximately thirty seconds later.

After Helaina and I climbed onto the Ferris Wheel, I noticed this tool bag sitting on the deck on the opposite side. Near as I can tell, it seems to consist of a rusty chain, a short piece of rusty pipe, a couple of rusty bolts, and what looks like maybe a hacksaw.  I'm not sure what bothers me more - that this might be a collection of parts which fell off of the ride. Or that these might be the ride operator's most treasured possessions - and he keeps them close by, "just in case."

Here's another photo taken from the Ferris Wheel - this one looking in the opposite direction of the photo up above. Two things about this. First, there way fewer rides than in years past (if you don't believe me by now, then I give up trying to convince you). And second, see that little green arrow over to the right?  That's where we ate the ketchup and fries (in case you were still thinking about them since viewing the photo above).

Here's a few photos of Helaina and Sam on the bumper cars. There was a young girl in one of the cars that, for the life of her, couldn't get her car to go - and therefore, she spent most of the ride either crying, or getting slammed into by all of the other cars, and crying. It brought back memories of when the exact same thing would happen to me - only, it was usually just my brother doing the slamming. (Out of respect to her and out of respect to me not wanting to get sued, she is not in these pictures.)

Finally, here's a final picture from the pig show - this one is taken of this year's "Swifty" as he/she gets the hell out of the water.

So, that's it for now. Come back again next year, when I will likely have photos of the exact same events, and repeat everything I just said, all over again.