Thursday, July 15, 2010

Cheese Curds, Mini Donuts, Carnies - Oh my!

Fair is in town.  Not just the normal Red River Valley Fair, but the Street Fair is starting this week as well.  My last year of college, I worked downtown and was able to partake in fair food and activities and shopping to my heart's content.  All I had to do was take a break and walk outside.  Now, I have to drive downtown, find somewhere to park ($$) and hoof it all over the place . While I do still enjoy it, it's definitely different not being part of the downtown experience every day anymore.

I'm always interested in the crafts and artwork.  I look at these things and realize that I could do it myself and not pay $65 for a curved piece of metal or $85 for a painted piece of wood for my kids' wall.  Sometimes I get caught up in the moment and will carry something with me for a while before I realize that it is NOT a necessity!  Then I put it back (with regret) and turn to walk away.  And then something else catches my eye.  Sometimes the street fair is NOT good for people distracted easily by shiny objects.  Just sayin. 

Then there's the FAIR out at the fairgrounds.  I used to go to as many concerts as I could during the fair...and quite frankly, drink as much as possible.  I've still got the huge mugs that they'd sell ya.  Now they have kool aid in them.  Is that wrong? 

Do you ever think about how far fairs have come from their original beginnings?  The country fair where you'd bring in your livestock for show, sell your jams and jellies and try to win prizes based on guessing how much a pig weighs (at least that's how Babe became a member of Farmer Hoggett's family).   There's still the livestock portions and 4H things but a lot of the "homier" type of activities are gone.  The midway is still in full force with booths and tents and rides galore.  And the carnies - YIKES!  Can you imagine some of the stories they could tell?  Nevermind, I don't think I want to know!

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