Saturday, September 11, 2010

(Don't) Take Me to the Fair


When Queen Guinevere sang to Sir Lionel the following lines:
"Then you may take me to the fair
If you do all the things you promise
In fact, my heart would break should you not take me to the fair"
She did NOT have the Hardin County Fair in mind. If she did, she would have requested Sir Lionel let her mount his steed (not code) to flee the state.

The above scene is one that you'd expect. It's so wholesome. Youth working hard all summer to raise an animal, providing carefully for its care, grooming it meticulously. While I don't know how they get past it's inevitable "demise" at the butcher's after all that work, their efforts are admirable.

4-H kids work hard. They have to obey all the rules, including these:

There are also fun things to do at the fair, and you hope those hard working 4-H kids take a break. Look at the aqua gerbil attraction we saw this year:

These kids were having a blast.

Yet, there are different kids who go to the fair. They seem to lack the focus, responsibility and stamina of the 4-H kids:

Look closely. See those? Yes, those are cigarettes in their youthful hands. It was one of the saddest sights you could witness. This is like a promise that by the time they are old enough to drive, they'll have their very own well-developed smoker's hack.

They won't have the stamina to walk around the fair without the aid of their own oxygen tank (we saw a lot of those - there is a lot of handicap parking at the fair). Fortunately, there will be many benches for them to rest and resuscitate.

As Sue, Pat and I observed the sights, sounds, and frightfully mysterious smells of the fair, one of them said something deeply profound. "The Hardin County Fair doesn't have a side show with freaks on display. You can just sit here and watch them go by for free."

Well said. And true. A trip to the fair makes me want to eat all vegetables and spend a lot of time on the treadmill. And moisturize.

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