 | To Fair? Or Not To Fair? |
You’re either a Fair Person, or you run screaming at the very thought. Pick your side.
There’s little in-between in this world. You’re either a Fair Lover or a Hater. You dig deep fry or you don’t. You love crowds or you hate masses. And you find charm in the carnival scene or you think it’s a freak show.
Me? No Fair. No way. No how. I’m a Veggie; I close my eyes when I see booths about chocolate-covered bacon and frog legs. I hate people bumping into me. I think some of the rides are whacked. And I don’t do short shorts and high heels well at all. But, this year I was invited for Media Day to the OC Fair, so I went—with a half-opened (quarter, really) mind.
I got my ticket. Walked in. And somebody handed me hummus. Huh? Seriously?! Then Organic Burt’s Bees caught my eye near the entrance. Massage chairs drew me in a little deeper. And then I had a funnel cake, and those rock no matter which side of the fence you’re on. I chased the cake with a Red Stripe Jamaican beer, and, suddenly, I was going with the flow.
Dare I say I found myself in-like with the Fair? Was the hay getting to my brain cells? The heat maybe? I liked chatting with the local vendors and found the game barkers fun and entertaining. A small-town, community spirit came over me in the oversized, often-distant OC.
I saw my kids’ adornment for life’s more simple pleasures: a giant, multicolored slide, the sideshow attraction of passers-by on stilts, the thrill of winning, not buying, (though actually still buying, you know) stuffed bears, doggies, dolphins. We watched a hypnotist taunt his victims, and I cackled at his naughtiness. Then day turned to night, and I was still there! Me, still at the Fair? And I was on my way to the Rick Springfield show (we unexpectedly won tickets during the day).
After the show, we walked the flashy, neon aisles, and I was reminded of my Indian Summer Days at the fair growing up in the Midwest. I flashed back to the lights, the smells, the running into friends, and I remembered how I loved the Fair as a kid.
Maybe the non-Fairers, myself included, lost the kid in ‘em. You can get it back. And for little more than the price of zebra-striped cone, a lemonade, bag of popcorn and open mind.
Click my whrrl photo story below for pics of the whole day. And check out @wachner on Twitter, who often tweets a secret password for free summer fair concert tickets. You just give the usher the secret word when you turn in your 3D glasses after the Weird Al show, and you’re in free to the shows.
Have fun. Cleanse later. (I ate. And ate. And ate.)
Enjoy this article?
