Saturday, September 03, 2005

County Fair

Growing up in Williams County, Ohio, early September meant only one thing: the county fair. All the students in our county even got the first Monday of the fair off of school. Several fun days would be spent at the fairgrounds collecting freebies from the merchant booths, riding the Scrambler and the Tilt-a-Whirl, checking out my friends' 4-H exhibits, and of course--eating yummy, oh-so-healthy fair food. Mmm. When I was in high school, fair week was even better: the fair was only a block from MHS, so we could walk there every day for lunch! My personal favorite: a sausage patty sandwich from the pork producers, washed down with a milkshake from the dairy producers, and if I still had room, capped off with a maple or chocolate donut from the Athena booth. I suppose if you didn't grow up in the sticks like I did, you can't relate...but trust me, my mouth is watering and my stomach is growling just thinking about it.

So when we found out that the county fair where we live was this week, Steve and I decided we had to check it out. What a complete(ly expensive) disappointment. First we had to pay $6 to get in the front gate. I really don't think the fair back home was that expensive. And this fair was pathetic. No local food booths at all; just the overpriced carny stuff. At the Williams County fair, you can get a sandwich and a shake for $3 and feel stuffed. Here we saw one carnival stand that had milkshakes for $4.50! And they probably weren't nearly as good.

By the time we walked around this crappy fairground once (which took all of five minutes), we would have been satisfied with just one of the three foods we craved (sausage sandwiches, milkshakes and donuts are Steve's fair favorites as well). But there were no pork producers. No dairy producers. Not even a single donut. It was a sad day here in Tennessee.


P.S. If you are one of the lucky ones back home who will be going to the Williams County Fair next week, eat some fair food for me--at least a donut. And look for us at the Visions Photography booth--Lori's putting a big print of one of our wedding shots in her display!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh i feel your pain! we used to drive back to ohio from chicago just for the fair!! Our fair, although much bigger, was filled with things not related to our county at all! Haven't checked it out here in california but i can only imagine that williams county has just set the bar to high. Who would have thought!

Jules said...

Mmmm...I had fair milkshake for you. Fulton County Fair is much bigger and better than Willams County--more worth the $5 admission in my opinion. :)

Jules said...

PS. It was chocolate, and it was GOOOOD! I was only going to have a few drinks of Mike's, but since I was having it for YOU, I figured the calories didn't count and I could just have one of my very own. Plus Mike gets vanilla--what's up with that?