Tag: Fairs

$5 To Ride Around In Circles

We attended a local festival this weekend with the typical overpriced $18 afternoon “unlimited ride” band that only applied to several rides and did not include the $7 bouncy jumpy rope thing that we passed with seething resentment. It also did not include any games, many of which were $5 for three tries (at darts or hitting the sledgehammer, etc). We did pony up $4 for berry lemonade, but not $7 for funnel cake. And certainly not $5 for a pony ride.

How about you? Would you pony up for a pony? Or would you rather spend that money on a camel ride? A pair of camels split the shift. This one was on break but still suited up.

This was the shortest line we saw of the dozens of fairground lines.

I guess riding a camel isn’t quite as exciting as Pharaoh’s Fury or the Zipper (from which 99% of the ride screams came). And I doubt it’s on anyone’s bucket list. But at least you can say you did it once.

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The Poor Man’s Six Flags

Wright Co Fair, Missouri 90
Wright Co Fair, Missouri 90

Today I showcase a fascinating assortment of another favorite picture book of mine, In Search of the Corn Queen.  In it, Greta Pratt shares pictures of various county fairs in the American Midwest.  Some are hopeful; some are hopeless.  But all are a window into small town celebration.

This one gives me a glimpse of that adolescent excitement over what could be, with the whole world laid out before you, an endless possibility.

Osage Indian Heritage Festival, Missouri 88
Osage Indian Heritage Festival, Missouri 88

Like I said, boy, all you gotta do is pop 10 balloons to win those skateboards on the wall.  It’s a piece of cake.  Would I steer you wrong?

Hickory Co Fair, Missouri 90
Hickory Co Fair, Missouri 90

Drench the volleyball coach!

Stover Summer Festival, Missouri 88
Stover Summer Festival, Missouri 88

Dang, I thought I was hot, but she’ll totally be hotter than me in ten years, when I’m like, ancient or something. 

Johnson Co Peach Fest, Arkansas 90
Johnson Co Peach Fest, Arkansas 90

I learned it from watching you, Dad.

Johnson Co Peach Fest, Ark 90
Johnson Co Peach Fest, Ark 90

No, that’s cool.  You just sit in your overalls on the tailgate, and I’ll hold our wriggling young’un and try to down this cup of Mad Dog before I get pregnant again.

  

Cheatham Co Fair, TN 90
Cheatham Co Fair, TN 90

High point of the afternoon; winning bundt cake in the last round of the cake walk.

Spring Fest, ARK 90
Spring Fest, ARK 90

Good clean fun or a gateway to Spring Break mud wrestling?

Platte Co Fair, Wyoming 89
Platte Co Fair, Wyoming 89

Two tickets for a dollar, six tickets per ride, means three dollars for the ferris wheel, or I could just blow it all on a Fanta and funnel cake.  What to do?  What to do?

Obion County Fair, TN 1990
Obion County Fair, TN 1990

No, I am absolutely not living vicariously through my grandbaby. 

Bates Co Fair, Missouri 90
Bates Co Fair, Missouri 90

Oh, yeah, life goes on.  Long after the thrill of living is gone. 

Stickney Centrennial, South Dakota 89
Stickney Centennial, South Dakota 89